Fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah continued on Wednesday (15 April), despite rare direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington DC.
Israeli strikes hit targets south of Beirut, while Hezbollah launched around 30 rockets into northern Israel, wounding one person. The Israeli military said it had struck more than 200 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours and was continuing ground operations.
The escalation comes as both sides held their first high-level direct talks in more than three decades, mediated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. No ceasefire was announced.
Lebanese authorities say more than 2,100 people have been killed and over one million displaced since fighting resumed in March, while Israel reports 14 deaths from Hezbollah attacks over the same period.
Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawa, says the first high-level diplomatic engagement between her country and Israel was “constructive".
“I called for a ceasefire and the return of displaced persons to their homes,” she said in brief comments released by the Lebanese embassy in Washington.
Source: commonspace.eu with the BBC
