Israel launches fresh strikes on Lebanon despite Trump criticism

Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and invading a significant part of the country’s south.

More than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon during the conflict, according to the country’s health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Israeli authorities say 30 soldiers and four civilians have been killed on both sides of the border.

Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, declared in a televised address on Wednesday that the US-Iran agreement was a “great victory” and urged Lebanon to “benefit from this pivotal point”.

He also said Lebanon’s negotiations with Israel should be limited to issues of “mutual security”, and that its main demand should be the restoration of its sovereignty through the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Lebanese territory.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, meanwhile, said his country was pursuing an “independent path” at its negotiations with Israel in Washington, but added that he was “in favour of a ceasefire and welcome the support of any country that helps us, including Iran”.

The text of the US-Iran deal – referred to as a memorandum of understanding – has not been officially released.

Both sides were expected to sign the deal on Friday in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry told the Schweiz Heute newspaper.

Trump said he would likely hold a news conference to publicly read the agreement between the US and Iran “word by word”.

He also said the deal meant Iran would “never have a nuclear weapon” and that the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway in the Gulf would reopen and be “toll-free”.

Trump has argued this deal would be better than the one Barack Obama negotiated when he was president.

“We didn’t pay for it like Obama did. He paid billions of dollars,” Trump said on Tuesday.

Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the US and five other world powers, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and allow international inspections in return for sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds.