EU urges immediate halt to Israel-Hizbollah war

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hizbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.

The Israeli military said Hizbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to media images.

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital’s southern suburbs, a Hizbollah stronghold.

Israel’s military said it had attacked “headquarters” of the Hizbollah “hidden within civilian structures” in south Beirut.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hizbollah.

“We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” Borrell said.

“Lebanon is on the brink of collapse,” he warned.

Borrell called for more pressure on Israel and Hizbollah to reach a deal, saying one was “pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hizbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for “disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon.”

Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hizbollah and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution.

Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was “within our grasp”, and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.

On a visit to Damascus on Sunday, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said it was “extremely critical” to achieve regional de-escalation and ensure that “Syria is not further dragged into this”.

Israel has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria during its war with Hizbollah. A war monitor said an air raid this week on the city of Palmyra killed 105 people, the vast majority of them pro-Iran fighters.

While the Lebanese army is not engaged in the Israel-Hizbollah war, it has suffered multiple fatalities, the latest coming on Sunday.

The army said an Israeli strike on a military post killed one soldier and wounded 18 others.

Also on Sunday, Hizbollah said it launched attacks using missiles and drones directed at a naval base in southern Israel and military sites in the central Tel Aviv area.

It said it had “launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of strike drones on the Ashdod naval base,” one its deepest targets so far.

Hizbollah also said its fighters had launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot military intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, a facility it has announced previous attacks against.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific claims, but it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several areas, including in the Tel Aviv suburbs.

Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded in Israel.

Agencies