France rallies support for the army after an Israeli strike kills Lebanese troops

As France convened a conference to mobilize support for Lebanese state forces, which are considered essential to any diplomatic settlement of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, an Israeli strike killed three Lebanese troops in south Lebanon on Thursday.

According to the Lebanese army, the troops were murdered while evacuating injured residents from the southern village of Yater.

According to a security source, they were murdered at approximately 4:15 a.m. (0115 GMT).

The Israeli military, which has previously stated that it is not fighting the Lebanese army, did not immediately comment on the strike.

The sector is a portion of the border that Israel has been bombarding during its month-long war against Lebanon.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israel has murdered over 2,500 people in Lebanon and displaced over a million people. The Paris conference intends to raise support for the Lebanese military as well as humanitarian relief.

The Lebanese army, which has been armed and trained by the United States, is not very powerful in southern Lebanon’s Hezbollah heartland.

It draws members from all of Lebanon’s numerous sectarian groups and has been regarded as a peacekeeper since the civil war that raged from 1975 to 1990.

One of the main components of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which put an end to the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, is its deployment into the south.

Reiterating that resolution 1701 should serve as the foundation for an end to the ongoing hostilities is scheduled for the Paris summit.

According to the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Israel to take action to protect the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, while also informing his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday that Washington was concerned about strikes against the Lebanese military.

Since hostilities began last year, 13 Lebanese army soldiers have been killed while on active duty, according to a security source in Lebanon.

16 more people had been killed at home. Israel has already expressed regret for confirming military casualties in Lebanon.

The stated goal of Israel’s offensive in Lebanon was to ensure the return of tens of thousands of Israelis who had fled their homes in northern Israel after a year of Hezbollah’s cross-border rocket fire.

Although he is in London on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been traveling throughout the region to advocate for an end to fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon, will send a deputy in his place to the Paris meeting.

Accurate missiles

Israel has handed Hezbollah severe blows, employing airstrikes to bombard its strongholds in the south, the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as executing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other senior commanders.

Late on Wednesday, a firefighter used a hose to spray a mound of smoldering debris that had been left behind by a hit.

“Troops continue their limited, localized, targeted ground raids against the Hezbollah in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military announced early Thursday.

29 civilians have been murdered in Israel as a result of Hezbollah assaults in the past year, according to the Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli think tank that focuses on the northern arena with Hezbollah.

52 troops have been killed in Israel and southern Lebanon, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Since the ground operation began three weeks ago, at least twenty-five people have been killed. Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it has fired precision guided missiles for the first time, escalating its rocket barrage into Israel.

According to the Israeli military, two of the four projectiles that were identified as coming from Lebanon were intercepted, and two of them fell to the ground.

Shortly after an Israeli military spokesman issued evacuation advisories for the area, Israeli airstrikes bombarded the southern suburbs of Beirut Wednesday evening, sending thick columns of flames soaring into the night sky one after the other.

The nearby office of pro-Iranian broadcaster Al-Mayadeen was struck by another unannounced strike, according to the station.

It said that from the start of the conflict, the office had remained vacant. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, five people—including a child—were injured and one person was killed.

In response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel that murdered 1,200 Israelis and resulted in the kidnapping of another 250, Hezbollah opened fire on October 8, 2023, expressing sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.

Since then, Israel’s attack in Gaza has devastated much of the region and killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

In an effort to muzzle journalists, the Israeli military listed six Palestinian Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza on Wednesday, claiming they were also affiliated with Hamas or Islamic Jihad organizations. The Qatari network denied the accusation.

On X, the Middle East program of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated that the accusations amounted to branding Palestinian journalists “with unsubstantiated ‘terrorist’ labels.”