Kamal Ghorui
Donald Trump said Israel has been “prohibited” by the United States from carrying out further bombing in Lebanon, declaring that such strikes will no longer take place. He added that the situation in Lebanon, including the presence of the Hezbollah, would be addressed separately from Iran and handled in an “appropriate manner.”
“The USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA Enough is enough!!!” Trump said through a post on Truth Social.Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country has not yet finished dealing with Hezbollah, vowing to continue efforts toward the group’s “dismantling” just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into effect.“We have not yet finished the job. There are things we plan to do to address the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat,” he said , adding that the key objective was to “dismantle Hezbollah”, as cited by Al Jazeera. Netanyahu also said that Israel’s operation had “removed” two threats originating from Lebanon. “A near threat involving the infiltration of thousands of terrorists and anti-tank fire onto our communities and a distant threat… of 150,000 missiles and rockets to destroy Israel’s cities,” he said.A spokesperson for United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said on Friday that no airstrikes had been observed since midnight. However, the official accused Israel’s military of violating Lebanese airspace and carrying out artillery shelling in southern Lebanon.An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah has been a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who have earlier accused Israel of violating the current ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel, however, has maintained that the agreement does not extend to Lebanon.Hezbollah, for its part, said the Lebanese people have “the right to resist” Israeli occupation of their land, adding that its actions “will be determined based on how developments unfold.”Nearly 2,300 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the war, as cited by AFP.
