Israeli strike destroys last bridge over Litani River as intense fighting continues in south Lebanon

An Israeli strike destroyed the last bridge over the Litani River into Lebanon’s south, according to a senior Lebanese security source, fully severing almost a tenth of Lebanon from the rest of the country, after Israel destroyed other crossings during the war.

Fighting continued to rage in south Lebanon on Thursday, notably in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold and strategic prize that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military was about to “overcome,” in a briefing a day earlier.

A senior Lebanese official said that Lebanon’s assessment was that Israel wanted to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made.

Israeli warplanes also unleashed an intense barrage of strikes Thursday on the southern town of Nabatiyeh, sending giant plumes of black smoke billowing over the regional hub of southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the attacks Thursday hit near the town’s industrial zone and outside a supermarket along Nabih Berri Avenue, a main thoroughfare lined with shops and residential buildings. The strikes, among the heaviest in the area since the start of the war, also hit several surrounding suburbs.

Israel has intensified its aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon in recent days as it seeks to extend security control into Lebanese territory in its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah. The Israeli military on Wednesday targeted three teams of medics from Nabatiyeh in successive strikes as they were working to administer aid to civilians and rescue each other, killing four medical workers and wounding six others.

Meanwhile, in Israel, sirens rang out warning of incoming rockets, sending residents of several northern Israeli towns running to bomb shelters after Hezbollah announced new rocket attacks targeting Israel. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon since March 2 and forced more than 1.2 million from their homes, Lebanese authorities say. Hezbollah attacks have killed two ⁠Israeli civilians, while 13 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2, Israel says.

Beirut won’t speak to Netanyahu

The latest attacks in Lebanon come as Lebanese officials said the president will not speak to Israel’s prime minister in the near future, Lebanese officials said on Thursday, dealing a blow to U.S. efforts to expand contacts between the enemy states.

Three Lebanese officials told Reuters on Thursday that President Joseph Aoun would not hold a call with Netanyahu in the near future.

Two of the Lebanese officials said the Lebanese Embassy in Washington had informed the U.S. administration of the position before a call between Aoun and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

The war in Lebanon spiralled out of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict.

The Israeli security cabinet convened late on Wednesday to discuss a possible ceasefire in Lebanon.

“Peace in Lebanon is essential for [Iran] peace talks,” said Tahir Andrabi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was “trying to get a little breathing room” between Israel and Lebanon.

“It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!” Trump wrote in the post published late Wednesday.

Gila Gamliel, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio that Netanyahu would “speak for the first time with the president of Lebanon after so many years of no contact between the two countries.”

A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had no information about a call between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu.

Contact between Netanyahu and Aoun would be a milestone in ties between Lebanon and Israel — countries that have remained in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. Hezbollah opposes contact between Lebanon and Israel.

Aoun, who commanded Lebanon’s U.S.-backed military before becoming president last year, said Israel’s withdrawal would be a “fundamental step to consolidate the ceasefire” so that Lebanese troops could deploy to the south.

The Lebanese government has been sharply at odds with Hezbollah over its decision to enter the war, having spent the last year seeking to secure the peaceful disarmament of the group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.

Beirut banned Hezbollah’s military activities on March 2.

The Israeli military’s chief of staff said on Wednesday the area south of the Litani would be a “no-go zone for Hezbollah operatives,” reflecting Israel’s declared aim to keep control of a swath of southern Lebanon south of the river that meets the Mediterranean about 30 kilometres north of Israel’s border.

Washington expressed optimism on Wednesday about reaching a deal to end the Iran war. The sides agreed a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war on April 8, following mediation by Pakistan.

Israel and ‌the U.S. have ⁠said the campaign against Hezbollah was not part of that ceasefire, though Pakistan’s prime minister had said the truce would include Lebanon, as demanded by Iran.

A senior Israeli official and the senior Lebanese official said on Wednesday that Netanyahu’s government was under heavy pressure from Washington to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.