Israel unleashed what it called its biggest coordinated assault of the war on Lebanon on Wednesday, pounding Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and the south with airstrikes even as Hezbollah halted its own attacks under a US-Iran ceasefire. Lebanon's health ministry reported dozens killed and hundreds wounded, reports the Guardian, with hospitals calling for blood donations and the Lebanese Red Cross saying there was "a huge number of dead and wounded." Witnesses in Beirut described people abandoning cars and rushing on foot to hospitals as explosions rocked the capital. The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah command and military sites, and Defense Minister Israel Katz described it as the group's most severe blow since a 2024 operation that detonated thousands of the militia's pagers, reports Reuters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military insisted the two-week US-Iran ceasefire does not cover Lebanon, contradicting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a mediator, who said it did. Iran, meanwhile, told mediators that the attacks on Lebanon must stop if the ceasefire is to remain in effect, reports the Wall Street Journal. Hezbollah has paused its attacks and is expected to issue its stance on the truce and Israel's position. French President Emmanuel Macron urged that Lebanon be folded into the deal, as the country reels from an economic crisis and displacement: about 1.2 million people have fled their homes under Israeli evacuation orders. More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, Lebanese officials say, while Israel vows to maintain a "security zone" in the south up to the Litani River.
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