Updated

Oct 24, 2024, 07:48 PM

Published

Oct 24, 2024, 06:40 PM

BEIRUT – An Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon on Oct 24, as France hosted a conference to rally support for Lebanese state forces seen as vital to any diplomatic resolution of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The soldiers were killed as they were evacuating wounded people on the outskirts of the southern village of Yater, the Lebanese army said.

The village is part of the border region Israel has pounded during its month-long offensive against the heavily armed, Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, in a conflict that spiralled out of the Gaza war.

With more than 2,500 people killed by Israel’s offensive in Lebanon and over a million forced from their homes, the Paris conference aims to mobilise both humanitarian aid and support for the Lebanese military.

Armed and trained by the United States, the Lebanese army has little sway on the ground in Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Lebanon. It recruits from across Lebanon’s myriad sectarian communities and has been seen as a guarantor of peace since the 1975-90 civil war.

Its deployment into the south is a key part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. The Paris meeting is set to reiterate that Resolution 1701 should be the basis for a cessation to the current hostilities.

“There needs to be a ceasefire in Lebanon. More damage, more victims, more strikes will not enable the end of terrorism or ensure security for everyone,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

He said the conference would support the recruitment of 6,000 Lebanese troops and provide the army with key supplies.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Beirut could deploy 8,000 soldiers as part of a ceasefire plan but appealed for international financial support and training.

“The storm we are currently witnessing is unlike any other, because it carries the seeds of total destruction, not only for our country, but for all human values,” Mr Mikati said.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart on Oct 23 that Washington has concerns about strikes against Lebanon’s troops while urging Israel to take steps to ensure the safety of the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Pentagon said.

A security source in Lebanon said 13 Lebanese soldiers have been killed while on active duty since the start of hostilities in 2023. Another 16 were killed while at home. Israel has apologised in the past when it has confirmed Lebanese military deaths.

Israel launched its Lebanon offensive with the declared aim of securing the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who evacuated their homes in northern Israel due to a year of cross-border rocket fire by Hezbollah.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been on a regional tour to press for an end to fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon, will skip the Paris meeting despite being in London on Oct 25, instead sending a deputy in his place.

Precision missiles

Israel has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah along with other top commanders and using air strikes to pound its strongholds in the south, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

A firefighter sprayed a hose on a pile of smouldering rubble left by a strike late on Oct 23.

The Israeli military said early on Oct 24 that its “troops continue their limited, localised, targeted ground raids against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon”.

It said its troops “eliminated dozens of terrorists”, and that its air force “struck over 160 Hezbollah terror targets, including launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites throughout Lebanon”.

The Alma Research and Education Centre, an Israeli think-tank that specialises in the northern arena with Hezbollah, said 29 civilians have been killed in Israel so far as a result of Hezbollah attacks over the last year.

The Israel Defence Forces says 52 soldiers have been killed in Israel and southern Lebanon. At least 25 have been killed since the start of the ground operation three weeks ago.

Hezbollah on Oct 23 indicated it escalated its rocket fire into Israel, saying it fired precision guided missiles for the first time.

The Israeli military said four projectiles were identified as having been fired from Lebanon, two were intercepted and two fell to the ground.

Israeli air strikes pounded the southern Beirut suburbs late on Oct 23, sending thick columns of flames shooting into the night sky one after the other, shortly after an Israeli military spokesman issued evacuation warnings for the area.

Another strike came with no warning, hitting the nearby office of pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, the station said. It said the office had been empty since the conflict began. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded.

The Israeli military named on Oct 23 six Palestinian Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza who it said were also members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups, an allegation the Qatari network rejected as an attempt to silence journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East programme said on X that the allegations amounted to smearing Palestinian journalists “with unsubstantiated ‘terrorist’ labels”. REUTERS