Middle East Monitoring Desk Islamabad
There have been multiple explosions in Beirut today, with further Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital.The death toll in Lebanon has risen to 1,268 since 2 March, with a further 3,750 injured, according to the state-run National News Agency.
Israel has regularly launched strikes at Beirut and southern Lebanon since the war began, saying it is targeting sites associated with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
The foreign ministers of 10 European countries have issued a joint statement calling on Israel to avoid a “further widening” of the conflict in Lebanon – asking it to respect the “territorial integrity” of the country.
The statement condemns Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel in support of Iran, and says it supports and encourages the Lebanese government to “restore its sovereignty” over the whole of Lebanon.
It calls for “direct political negotiation” between Lebanon and Israel, saying all parties should “immediately deescalate”.
Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas have all signed it.
Israel sent ground troops into southern Lebanon on 2 March and has also been launching broad strikes across the country. It says it is trying to protect communities from attacks by Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-backed armed group.
Under the ceasefire agreement that ended the war in 2024, Hezbollah was meant to disarm and leave its positions in the south.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has denounced what he calls Israel’s “illegal invasion” of Lebanon.
Speaking in Quebec, he tells reporters: “It’s an illegal invasion, it’s an invasion of Lebanon, it’s a violation of their territorial sovereignty.”
“From a practical perspective, the government of Lebanon has banned Hezbollah, is trying to take action against Hezbollah and their terrorist activities and their threats to Israel,” he adds.
“That is the purported justification for this invasion, so we condemn it.”
It comes as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the country will keep security control over parts of southern Lebanon even after the current war with Hezbollah ends.
Israeli officials say ground troops were moved into Lebanon to protect communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks, with Katz previously stating that Israel was taking action because the Lebanese government had done “nothing”.
