BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese state media said Tuesday that Israeli tanks entered the outskirts of the village of Khiam, their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in a ground operation launched last month.
The official National News Agency reported the entry of “a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army” into the eastern outskirts of Khiam, some six kilometers (nearly four miles) from the border with Israel.
Hezbollah said it destroyed two tanks using guided missiles and targeted Israeli troops south and southwest of Khiam with rockets and artillery.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli forces carried out a series of air attacks on Khiam later on Tuesday and launched a large-scale sweep “using heavy and medium weaponry.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah, which named deputy chief Naim Qassem as its new leader on Tuesday, has been battling Israeli forces in Lebanese border villages since the ground invasion began on September 30.
According to an AFP count based on Lebanese health ministry figures, 1,754 people have been killed nationwide since intensive Israeli strikes on Lebanon began.
Hezbollah claims that Israeli forces are yet to assert full control over any village in Lebanon, weeks into the invasion, amid repeated operations to repel Israeli attempts at infiltration.
The large town of Khiam holds symbolic significance.
It was home to a notorious prison run by the South Lebanon Army, an Israeli proxy militia, during Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon.
Israeli troops withdrew from the region in 2000 after 22 years.
Israeli tanks enter Khiam outskirts in deep south Lebanon incursion
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Israeli tanks enter Khiam outskirts in deep south Lebanon incursion
- NNA reported the entry of ‘a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army’ into the eastern outskirts of Khiam
- Hezbollah said it destroyed two tanks using guided missiles and targeted Israeli troops south and southwest of Khiam
Lebanon foreign minister declines Tehran visit, proposes talks in neutral country
- Lebanon’s foreign minister Youssef Raji cited ‘current conditions’ for the decision not to go to Iran
Lebanon’s foreign minister Youssef Raji said on Wednesday he had declined an invitation to visit Tehran for now, proposing instead talks with Iran in a mutually agreed neutral third country, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
Raji cited “current conditions” for the decision not to go to Iran, without elaborating, and stressed that the move did not mean rejection of dialogue with Iran. He did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for additional comment.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had extended the invitation last week, seeking talks on bilateral ties.
Raji said Lebanon stood ready to open a new phase of constructive relations with Iran, on the condition that ties be based strictly on mutual respect, full recognition of each country’s independence and sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs under any pretext.
In an apparent reference to calls to disarm Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed movement allied for decades to Iran, Raji added that no strong state could be built unless the government held the exclusive right to hold weapons.
Hezbollah, once a dominant political force with wide influence over the Lebanese state, was severely weakened by Israeli strikes last year that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire. It has been under mounting domestic and international pressure to surrender its weapons and place all arms under state control.
In August, Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani visited Beirut, warning Lebanon not to “confuse its enemies with its friends.” In June, Foreign Minister Araqchi said Tehran sought a
“new page” in ties.
