Israel kills three in Lebanon as Rubio praises progress in talks
An Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed three people, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel and Lebanon are making good progress toward a commitment of intent in Washington talks.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that three people were killed and one wounded on Thursday in an Israeli attack on a car on the road between Zawtar and Mayfadoun in Nabatieh Governorate. NNA also said Israeli forces burned several houses in the town of Ain Arab after issuing warnings for residents to evacuate by 5pm Wednesday.
According to Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health, 4,230 people have been killed and 12,179 wounded since the conflict began on March 2. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Nabatieh, said the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah remains "fragile" as the Israeli army continues to target "anyone or anything in front-line villages." She explained that these villages lie along the area under Israeli occupation, and the message is that people should not approach. "The Israeli army was not able to occupy them during weeks of fighting and wants to still be able to control them by fire because the more territory you control, the more leverage you have in negotiations," she added.
Ceasefire talks Three days of talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington concluded on Thursday, focusing on a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to gradually hand over territory to Lebanon's military. A US State Department official told Reuters that Israel had taken a "concrete step" by pulling back from part of a buffer zone. However, a senior Israeli defense official denied any pullback, saying Israel would not withdraw from its buffer zone. A senior Lebanese military official also told Reuters that developments on the ground showed the "opposite of a pullback."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday in Bahrain that Israel and Lebanon are close to a "commitment of intent." "I think we are very close in our hopes of getting a commitment of intent between the two countries. It'll be a process, it'll take some time, it'll take a lot of work, but I can tell you that for the first time in 30 years, the sovereign government of Lebanon is speaking to the government of Israel directly," Rubio told reporters. Hezbollah has condemned the talks, demanding a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon first.
