Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire after Donald Trump's announcement

Israel conducted strikes on south Lebanon and Hezbollah fired into northern Israel on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement to halt attacks that neither side has publicly acceptedAccording to Lebanons authorities Hezbollah would no longer fire into Israel under the agreement while the Israeli military would cease striking south Beirut long a bastion of the Iranbacked militant groupThe developments followed a dramatic escalation in violence that saw Israeli troops stage their deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades conducting waves of heavy bombardment and threatening to strike the south Beirut suburbsAs the violence threatened to scupper a ceasefire in the wider Middle East war between the US and Iran 24yearold south Beirut resident Hadi told AFP he had hoped for some stability but that feeling did not last longThe Israeli military said air defences intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel hours after Trumps announcementAccording to Lebanons National News Agency Israel conducted fresh air strikes on south Lebanon on TuesdayLebanons embassy in Washington had hours earlier said Hezbollah had accepted a US proposal for a mutual cessation of attacks though there has been no official confirmation by the militant groupFor ETERNITYIsraels strikes on Beiruts southern suburbs will cease and in exchange Hezbollah will not attack Israel And we will work to ensure the ceasefire expands to include all of Lebanons territory the Lebanese presidency said in a statementIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told Trump that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens Israel will strike terrorist targets in BeirutBut Trump doubled down on his ceasefire push posting on Truth Social that hopefully Israel and Hezbollah would stop fighting for ETERNITYThere will be no Troops going to Beirut and any Troops that are on their way have already been turned back Trump said after what he described as a very productive call with NetanyahuAccording to Axios however Trump called Netanyahu fucking crazy and accused him of putting Iran peace talks at riskLikewise through highly placed Representatives I had a very good call with Hezbollah and they agreed that all shooting will stop That Israel will not attack them and they will not attack Israel Trump addedHezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Irans supreme leader and Tehran has insisted that Lebanon be included in any peace deal with WashingtonAccording to Irans Tasnim news agency Tehran was no longer engaging in talks with Washington due to Israels offensiveTrading blowsThe announcements came on the eve of a fourth round of UShosted direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday Military delegations held security talks last weekThe threat of new strikes on south Beiruts suburbs sent people fleeing the densely populated area in huge traffic jams linking the area to the capital city AFP images showedA truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon began on April 17 but has never been observedBoth Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other daily of violating the ceasefire justifying their attacks by blaming the other for breachesAccording to Lebanons health ministry Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed at least 3433 peopleIsraels military said two of its soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon bringing to 27 the number of Israeli military deaths since early MarchPeacekeepersStephane Dujarric spokesman for UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres urged all sides to respect the cessation of hostilitiesIn a report to the UN Security Council seen by AFP Guterres said it would be necessary to maintain peacekeepers in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expires at yearendFrances Foreign Minister JeanNoel Barrot said Tuesday that nothing could justify Israeli troops remaining deep inside LebanonIsraeli troops on Sunday seized the Beaufort castle which commands sweeping views of south LebanonIsraeli forces used the castle also known as Qalaat alChakif as a base during their previous twodecade occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever