Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024.
Bilal Hussein/AP
BEIRUT – Israeli ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before pulling back Saturday after battles with Hezbollah militants, Lebanese state media reported.
The clashes and further Israeli bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials study a draft proposal presented by the U.S. earlier this week on ending the war.
Israeli troops captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Israeli border, the state-run National News Agency reported. It said the troops were later pushed back.
The agency added that Israeli troops blew up the Shrine of Shimon the Prophet in Chamaa as well as several homes before they withdrew, but the claim could not be immediately verified.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to requests for comment but said in a statement that its troops “continue their limited, localized and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon.”
A search for peace
On Friday, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister apparently urged Iran to try and convince Hezbollah to agree to a cease-fire deal with Israel, which would require the group to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. The proposal is based on U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
A copy of the draft proposal presented by the U.S. was handed over this week to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah, according to a Lebanese official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the secret talks, said Berri is expected to give Lebanon’s response on Monday.
Another Lebanese politician said Hezbollah officials had received the draft and would express their opinion to Berri. The politician also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks.
Berri told the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the draft does not include any item that allows Israel to act in Lebanon if the deal is violated.
AP