Strikes against targets in Lebanon by Israel have continued into the second day.
US reacts to refugee crisis unfolding while UN peacekeepers stop patrols
Thousands of Lebanese have fled the south, with the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus of the area since Israel last invaded in 2006.
A spokeswoman for President Joe Biden said the administration was concerned about what’s happening between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and insisted that getting a cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza was key to easing tensions in the region.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
A State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic efforts, said the U.S. and numerous other countries were keen to present an “off-ramp” for both Israel and Hezbollah to reduce tensions and prevent an all-out war.
The U.S. has “concrete ideas” for restoring calm that it will present to allies and partners at this week’s U.N. General Assembly, the official said. He wouldn’t detail what the “concrete ideas” were because he said they had yet to be presented to allies and partners for what he termed a “stress test” for their likelihood of success.
U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border have stopped their patrols and are staying in their bases “given the volume of exchange of fire”, a U.N. spokesman said. Stéphane Dujarric told reporters that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres was “alarmed” at the escalating violence and large number of civilian casualties reported in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Health Ministry asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone non-urgent surgeries to treat people wounded by “Israel’s expanding aggression on Lebanon.”Latest Barrage: Hezbollah fire up to 120 rockets at northern Israeli towns
Hebrew-language media Kan public broadcaster is reporting a rocket barrage has struck targets including warehouses in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona leaving one building on fire, with firefighters already attending. There are no reports of injuries so far.
Local reports have also been filed of rocket sirens having been sounded early this morning in the Lower Galilee area, which was targeted by rocket fire.
