Netanyahu vows ‘no ceasefire’ in Lebanon as Hezbollah fighters captured

Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of a ceasefire in Lebanon that would leave Hezbollah close to his country’s northern border, as the IDF captured three of the militant group’s fighters.

Hezbollah operatives captured by the IDF in south Lebanon. Picture: IDF

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of a ceasefire in Lebanon that would leave Hezbollah close to his country’s northern border, as the Israel Defence Forces captured three of the militant group’s fighters.

Mr Netanyahu’s comments came as the United States ramped up pressure over Israel’s conduct of the wars in Lebanon and Gaza, criticising the recent bombing of Beirut and demanding that more aid reach the Palestinian territory.

In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Netanyahu said he was “opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was”, according to a statement from his office.

Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli military have insisted there must be a buffer zone along Israel’s border with Lebanon where there is no presence of Hezbollah fighters.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified that Israel would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this (a buffer zone) and which does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping,” the statement said.

Mr Netanyahu spoke as the IDF said it had captured three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, one of whom reportedly claimed the group’s leaders had fled after leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike earlier this month.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli Defence Forces special intelligence Unit 504 – the IDF’s version of Mossad – revealed the fighter said during interrogation: “They all fled … after the assassination of [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah, I did not see any of them.”

Rescuers and responders work at the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Toul. Picture: AFP.

In a defiant televised speech, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution was a ceasefire while threatening to expand the scope of its missile strikes across Israel.

“Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place” in Israel, he said.

In another day of fighting, the Iran-backed group said it launched a barrage of rockets towards the northern Israeli city of Haifa and targeted Israeli bulldozers and a tank near the border.

Israel’s military bombed several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the Bekaa Valley where a hospital in Baalbek city was put out of service, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.

Lebanon’s health ministry said nine people were killed Tuesday evening in strikes on the country’s south, and five others in the east, including three children.

Asked about Israeli air strikes in Lebanon in which residential buildings in central Beirut were hit on October 10, the US State Department voiced open criticism.

“We have made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we’ve seen it conducted over the past weeks” in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon from September 23 and then launched a ground offensive a week later intended to push the group back from its northern border.

Hezbollah has been firing thousands of projectiles into Israel over the last year in support of Hamas, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.

At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel escalated its bombing last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The war in Lebanon, which has suffered years of economic crisis, has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organisation for Migration.

AFP