Israel, Hezbollah trade attacks despite cease-fire efforts

By Naim Burjawi and Khaled Yousef

BEIRUT (AA) - Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah exchanged cross-border attacks amid US efforts to reach a cease-fire deal to end more than a year of warfare between the two sides.

The Israeli army carried out at least seven airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday evening, in the fiercest bombardment since the outbreak of the conflict last year, Lebanese state media said.

The state news agency NNA also reported Israeli airstrikes in the central Mount Lebanon province. Billows of smoke were seen rising from the area, but no information was yet available about casualties or damage.

The attacks followed Israeli evacuation orders for civilians in 12 buildings in several neighborhoods in southern Beirut, including Haret Hreik, Choueifat, Ghobeiry, Bir al-Abed and Moawad.

On Sunday, Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bomb government facilities in Beirut.

Hezbollah, for its part, said that it had carried out 49 attacks against Israeli targets on Sunday, marking the highest number of attacks in one single day since the start of the fighting last October.

Israeli media said that some 250 rockets were launched by Hezbollah in central and northern Israel on Sunday.

The Lebanese group said that the attacks targeted Israeli settlements, army bases and troop deployments in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

In one of the attacks, Hezbollah said it struck with advanced missiles Israeli army's Haifa Naval Base in northern Israel.

The escalation came as US envoy Amos Hochstein on Sunday threatened to withdraw from mediation efforts aimed at brokering a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon if Tel Aviv does not accept a US proposal, according to Israeli media.

Hochstein informed Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, that if Tel Aviv fails to respond positively to the US cease-fire proposal with Lebanon, Washington will pull out from the mediation process, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.

Netanyahu has demanded freedom to conduct military operations in southern Lebanon in any cease-fire deal with Hezbollah, a condition rejected by Lebanon.

Israel has escalated its airstrikes in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets as part of year-long warfare with the Lebanese group since the start of the Gaza war last year.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with more than 15,300 injured and over 1 million displaced since October last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 this year.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara