Israel struck the historic port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, the Lebanese health ministry said.
On Monday, Israel and Iran halted direct attacks on each other after an appeal by U.S. President Donald Trump for them to stop, but Tehran said it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to attack its ally, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
The Israeli raids, the deadliest on Tyre since fighting erupted in Lebanon on March 2, followed an Israeli evacuation order for the entire city.
A video purporting to show the aftermath of a deadly strike on the city’s eastern edge, whose location was verified by Reuters, showed debris strewn all along one road. Lebanese state media said rescuers were still searching for survivors.
ISRAEL’S LEBANON CAMPAIGN COMPLICATES TRUMP’S PEACE QUEST
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of its sponsor, two days after Israel and the United States unleashed war on Iran.
Israel’s refusal to end its campaign in Lebanon, as Iran demands, has hindered Trump’s efforts to extend a tenuous ceasefire in the wider U.S.-Israeli war with Iran into a durable settlement.
Last week, Israel’s military said Hezbollah fighters were hiding out in Tyre. Lebanese state media had reported people fleeing the city on Tuesday morning after the online evacuation order, with civil defence teams transporting elderly residents into temporary shelters.
Israeli evacuation orders for southern Lebanon, much of which its troops occupy, have effectively emptied a fifth of the entire country, including areas far beyond the front lines.
As a truce announced on April 8 largely holds in the war in the Gulf, Trump said two U.S. helicopter crew were “fine” following their rescue by a U.S. Navy drone after their Apache gunship went down in the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz.
It was not clear whether the Apache had been shot down by Iranian fire, experienced mechanical failure, or encountered another problem. Asked if he knew what had brought it down, Trump said a report would be issued later on Tuesday.
A U.S. Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew from the waters of the strait, the U.S. military’s Central Command told Reuters. The pair were picked up within about two hours and were in stable condition, Centcom said in a statement.
“The pilots are fine,” Trump said, speaking on the runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport before returning to Washington, D.C. “Nobody injured.”
IRANIAN AIR DEFENCE PERSONNEL TO BE BURIED
In Tehran, two Iranian air defence personnel were due to be buried on Tuesday afternoon after being killed in Israeli strikes the day before, Iran’s military said. No deaths were reported in Israel after the Iranian strikes.
Oil prices LCOc1, which had risen on the exchange of fire between Israel and Iran, gave up most of their gains on Tuesday after the attacks were paused. O/R
Trump told reporters he might have “an idea” for an Iran deal within a few days, without elaborating. The Republican president, struggling with record low approval ratings as November’s midterm elections approach, has often hinted at an imminent deal with Tehran, but none has yet materialised.
U.S. and Israeli officials said Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken on Monday.
In an interview with Axios, Trump said he had warned the Israeli leader not to return to war with Iran: “I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon.'”
Tehran has long said any peace deal with the U.S. depends in part on an end to fighting in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters who had fired across the border.
Israel has never halted its Lebanon campaign, which has killed thousands of people, saying the conflict should be treated separately from any U.S.-Iranian ceasefire. Hezbollah has also continued its attacks.
At the same time, Tehran has continued to block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump has said any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Iran’s demands include the lifting of international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and recognition of its control of the strait.
(Reuters)
