The Israeli army carried out a wave of air attacks on Lebanon, killing more than 250 people, on Wednesday \u2013 the bloodiest day since the US-Israel war on Iran began nearly six weeks ago.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Israel said it had also killed an aide to Hezbollah\u2019s chief, Naim Qassem, in the attacks.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The attacks came just hours after the announcement of a two-week United States-Iran ceasefire raised hopes of a de-escalation on all fronts in the Iran war, which has spread across the region.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose government helped broker the deal, said the ceasefire deal included the halting of attacks on all fronts, specifically mentioning Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting the Iran-backed group, Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Israel, however, together with the US, disputes this, claiming that the cessation of hostilities relates only to attacks between the US, Israel, and Iran. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the Israeli attacks on Lebanon were separate.<\/p>\n The latest violence has exposed major disagreements and confusion about the scope of the ceasefire and raised fears that it could unravel even before negotiations for a permanent settlement kick off. Talks are due to commence in Islamabad on Friday.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, hours after the ceasefire was announced, Israel launched its most widespread attacks since March 2, when fighting with Hezbollah began, striking more than 100 targets across the country.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s Civil Defence said at least 254 people were killed and 1,165 wounded in air attacks on Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including densely populated areas.<\/p>\n In a written statement, the head of Lebanon\u2019s syndicate of doctors, Elias Chlela, urgently called for \u201call physicians from all specialities\u201d to head to any hospital they could to offer help, with one of Beirut\u2019s biggest hospitals saying it needed donations of all blood types.<\/p>\n The United Nations described the casualty figures as \u201cappalling\u201d, with its human rights chief Volker Turk calling the destruction \u201chorrific\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that it was targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure. But Lebanese officials and aid groups said entire neighbourhoods were devastated, with hospitals overwhelmed and emergency services struggling to cope.<\/p>\n Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called the attacks on densely populated areas a \u201cfull-fledged war crime\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2060\u201cToday\u2019s crime, coinciding with the ceasefire agreement declared in the region \u2013 an agreement that Israel and its political and security apparatus have failed to uphold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The key diplomatic dispute, for the time being, is whether Lebanon is included in the ceasefire, as US, Iranian, Israeli and Pakistani officials have offered differing interpretations of what was agreed to.<\/p>\n In an X post on Wednesday, Pakistan PM Sharif wrote: \u201cI am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.\u201d His country has acted as the central mediator in achieving the fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n Iran also stated that the truce extends to Lebanon and called on the US to enforce the ceasefire accordingly.<\/p>\n Citing Sharif\u2019s ceasefire announcement, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the \u201cUS must choose between a ceasefire or continued war via Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the US\u2019 court,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon would undermine the agreement and risk further escalation.<\/p>\n By contrast, US officials have stated that the fragile truce excludes Lebanon.<\/p>\n When US President Donald Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran, he said it included \u201ca complete and total cessation of hostilities\u201d between Washington and Tehran. However, he later clarified that Lebanon was \u201ca separate skirmish\u201d.<\/p>\n That position has been reinforced by senior US officials. \u201cI think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn\u2019t,\u201d US Vice President JD Vance, who has been selected to lead the US in talks with Iran in Islamabad on Saturday, told reporters in Budapest.<\/p>\n Israel has taken the same stance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the ceasefire \u201cdoes not bind Israel in Lebanon\u201d and that military operations against Hezbollah would continue.<\/p>\n Speaking in Budapest, Vance also said it would be \u201cdumb\u201d for Iran to jeopardise the proposed talks with the US over Lebanon.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered, over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that\u2019s ultimately their choice. We think that\u2019s dumb, but it\u2019s their choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But contrary to Vance\u2019s claims, Lebanon has a lot to do with Iran.<\/p>\n Hezbollah is Tehran\u2019s most powerful regional ally and a central part of the \u201caxis of resistance\u201d, a network of armed groups across the Middle East aligned with Iran against Israel, including Yemen\u2019s Houthis and a collection of armed groups in Iraq.<\/p>\n The group entered the conflict after the Israeli army killed Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in its first attacks on Tehran on February 28. Before that, Hezbollah had not attacked Israel since a ceasefire came into effect in November 2024, despite near-daily Israeli breaches of the deal.<\/p>\n Among the demands issued by US for ending the war on Iran is that Tehran end its support for its regional allies such as Hezbollah.<\/p>\n A ceasefire which excludes Lebanon risks weakening Iran decades-old defence strategy. If Hezbollah continues to be targeted while attacks on Iran remain paused, Tehran could lose both its leverage \u2013 a weakened ally \u2013 and credibility within its network of resistance groups.<\/p>\n Furthermore, by allowing a critical ally to be pummelled without coming to its assistance \u2013 especially after it came to Tehran\u2019s defence \u2013 Iran would in effect be doing what the US demanded of it: weakening ties with Hezbollah.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the continuation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon, say analysts, poses the biggest threat to the prospects for the ceasefire between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n Andreas Krieg, a professor at King\u2019s College London, called Lebanon the \u201cAchilles\u2019 heel\u201d of the ceasefire. \u201c[It] might force Iran to retaliate against Israel to keep the balance of deterrence and show that Iran is a reliable security partner for Hezbollah,\u201d Krieg told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael will try to probe Iran where it can to test its resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n International reaction has largely focused on condemning the scale of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and calling for Lebanon\u2019s inclusion in the ceasefire.<\/p>\n Several countries described the attacks as a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d. Qatar condemned what it called a \u201cbrutal series\u201d of attacks and urged the international community to act.<\/p>\n Egypt said the attacks demonstrated a \u201cpremeditated intent\u201d by Israel to undermine efforts at de-escalation in the region, while Turkiye warned Israel\u2019s attacks were worsening the humanitarian situation in Lebanon and called for immediate action to protect civilians.<\/p>\n In a post on X, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Netanyahu\u2019s \u201ccontempt for life and international law is intolerable\u201d in light of the attacks.<\/p>\n France also condemned Israel\u2019s attacks, while calling for Lebanon\u2019s inclusion in the ceasefire.<\/p>\n UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has told the BBC that Lebanon must also be included in the ceasefire \u2013 a stance she is expected to reiterate at a speech at the Mansion House later on Thursday. She described Israel\u2019s continued assaults on Lebanon as \u201ccompletely wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in a statement, said the \u201congoing military activity in Lebanon\u201d poses a \u201cgrave risk\u201d to the ceasefire between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n More than 1.2 million people have been displaced in the war-battered country since Israeli attacks on Lebanon began.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Israeli army carried out a wave of air attacks on Lebanon, killing more than 250 people, on Wednesday \u2013 the bloodiest day since the US-Israel war on Iran began nearly six weeks ago. On Thursday, Israel said it had also killed an aide to Hezbollah\u2019s chief, Naim Qassem, in the attacks. Recommended Stories list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\".\"](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WIDE-THUMB-Joe-Kent-1775691498.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
What attacks has Israel carried out in Lebanon since the ceasefire was announced?<\/h2>\n
How have countries involved in the ceasefire reacted?<\/h2>\n
Why is Iran insisting that Lebanon be included in ceasefire talks?<\/h2>\n
What have other world powers said?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"