KABUL (Pajhwok): Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed at least 32 people despite a ceasefire agreement, raising concerns that the violence could derail talks between the United States and Iran aimed at strengthening a fragile peace process, according to Al Jazeera.
Follow-up discussions between Iran and the US on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed this week are scheduled to take place on Sunday in Burgenstock, Switzerland, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
However, continued Israeli air raids and drone strikes in southern Lebanon, despite the renewed ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that came into effect on Friday, have complicated the planned negotiations.
Iran considers a ceasefire in Lebanon a key element of the diplomatic process and believes the situation could determine the success or failure of the US-Iran talks.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes in the southern Nabatieh district on Saturday killed 16 people and wounded 12 others.
A Lebanese soldier was also killed in an Israeli attack on the village of Kfar Reman, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
NNA reported further Israeli strikes in Tyre district, including an attack on the village of Barish that killed four members of the same family — a father, mother and their two children.
Another Israeli raid targeted a house in Sohmor, in the western Bekaa region, while a family was inside. The attack killed four people and injured one, NNA said.
In Qanarit, in Sidon district, an Israeli strike killed at least seven people and wounded 13 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Emergency Operations Centre.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said 83 people were killed and 141 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Friday, shortly after the renewed ceasefire was announced. Most casualties were reported in southern Lebanon, with others recorded in the country’s east.
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