Israel wants 'more serious' talks with Lebanon: PM's spokesman
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel wants new and more ambitious US-brokered talks with Lebanon after carrying out deadly strikes targeting Hezbollah, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. The Israeli strikes against Hezbollah “should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite”, Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman told AFP . “And I think it will.…
Israel seeks more substantive peace discussions with Lebanon in the wake of lethal strikes against Hezbollah, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman, Doron Spielman. Speaking to AFP on Saturday, Spielman emphasized that the strikes should catalyze a more serious dialogue, countering concerns that they might have the opposite effect.
The Israeli military action targeted Hezbollah in response to an attack inside Israel's security zone in southern Lebanon. The strikes resulted in serious injuries to three Israeli soldiers, as reported by Netanyahu’s office. Spielman reiterated Israel's commitment to a US-brokered agreement aimed at gradually empowering Lebanon's fledgling security forces to take control and remove Hezbollah from the region. This Shia movement, backed by Iran’s clerical state, has long been a pivotal player in Lebanese affairs.
Following the Israeli strikes, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel maintained that its actions were justified. The Israeli military targeted a headquarters of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, resulting in the death of commander Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan. The Israeli strike acknowledged that Hassan's family members were present, but asserted that they were not the target.
Lebanese authorities reported that the strikes killed seven individuals, including several children, as well as four more people in a subsequent strike.
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