Update: Following a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump Monday afternoon announced that Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire. In return, Israel will scale down its ground operations against the Iranian proxy terrorist group in Lebanon, he suggested.
Despite Iranian state media declaring a halt to negotiations, President Trump said talks were still proceeding.
The Jerusalem Post reported Monday afternoon:
After the call, Trump announced that Israel had agreed that “there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.”In exchange, he said, Hezbollah had agreed that all shooting will stop – “That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
On Monday, Israel issued a large-scale evacuation order for Beirut’s Dahieh suburb, Hezbollah’s main stronghold, amid an expanding military operation against the Iranian proxy terror group.
“Following the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s repeated and ongoing violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon and its attacks against our civilians and cities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF to strike terror targets in the Dahia Quarter of Beirut,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office announced on Monday.
The evacuation warning comes after Hezbollah rejected the latest U.S. proposal to de-escalate and intensified its aerial attacks against Israeli towns and cities.
Residents of southern Beirut were seen fleeing the Hezbollah-held area following the evacuation order by the Israeli military aimed at minimizing civilian casualties. “After Monday’s warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support,” the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah rockets and drones struck indiscriminately at Israeli population centers. “The renewed fire came after a significant escalation Sunday, when Hezbollah expanded the range of its launches and made heavy use of explosive drones and UAVs against northern Israel,” Israel’s Ynetnews reported. “Four people were lightly to moderately wounded in the evening when an explosive drone hit near Moshav Beit Hillel in the Galilee Panhandle.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Israel was preparing to widen the military operation up to Beirut. “Our forces have crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he said. “We are operating in Beirut, in the Beqaa, across the entire width of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow.”
Israel is initiating strikes on the Beirut terror stronghold after securing U.S. approval. Amid ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran, the Trump administration has been restraining Israel’s ability to strike back despite Hezbollah’s aggression. The Times of Israel reported:
Israel announced Monday morning that it would renew strikes on Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, after significantly curtailing attacks on the Lebanese capital for weeks at the request of US President Donald Trump’s administration, even as the terror group has battered northern Israel with relentless rocket and drone attacks. Thirteen IDF soldiers have been killed in the fighting since a ceasefire ostensibly took effect in April.
Israel is also expanding its ground operation, pushing deeper into Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, “it was operating near Nabatiya, another significant Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon, and is prepared to expand its operations there as well,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “Nabatieh would be the farthest that IDF ground forces have advanced, around 20 kilometers from the Israeli border, whereas as of the April 17 ceasefire, the IDF was set at around 10 kilometers from the border.”
The U.S. struck air defenses and drone control sites in southern Iran over the weekend after the Iranian military shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone over international waters.
U.S. airstrikes hit the Iranian islands of Goruk and Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran uses drone control sites located on these islands to impose a blockade of the Hormuz Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Sunday confirmed carrying out “self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk (…) and Qeshm Island this weekend.”
“The measured and deliberate strikes occurred on Saturday and Sunday in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” CENTCOM announced. “U.S. fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is apparently escalating the conflict by renewing strikes in the region. According to the BBC, Kuwait on Monday confirmed that “its air defence system was “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks” without providing further detail.” This is the second wave of Iranian drone and missile strikes against the neighbouring Arab state in less than a week. On Wednesday night, Iran launched an aerial strike, including ballistic missiles, aimed at Kuwait’s international airport.
This Iranian aggression comes amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to negotiate a deal with the regime regarding an extended ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Demonstrating no willingness to reach a negotiated settlement, Iran claimed it fired another ballistic missile against Kuwait and mocked the U.S. president, the Associated Press reported:
Kuwait said its air defenses opened fire early Monday morning to intercept incoming drone and missile fire.In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, the Guard said that U.S. forces had targeted a telecommunications tower. (…)Iranian state television later shared footage of the ballistic missile launch, including a close-up showing a sticker on its body depicting a bruised U.S. President Donald Trump overlaid on a “closed” Strait of Hormuz with the caption: “Until the last American soldier leaves the region.”
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