Israel launched on Wednesday what it said was the heaviest wave of bombardment in Lebanon yet in its monthlong war against Iran-backed Hezbollah as a U.S.-Israeli cease-fire with Iran took effect.
The sharp escalation — with more than 100 airstrikes in the space of just 10 minutes — punctuated an announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that Lebanon would be excluded from the truce with Iran.
Shortly after lunchtime, fighter jets pummeled the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other parts of the country, with many strikes hitting densely populated areas without warning.
Lebanon’s health ministry said that dozens of people had been killed and hundreds wounded in the attacks, and many were still trapped under rubble. The sound of careering ambulances echoed across Beirut as plumes of thick, acrid smoke rose above the skyline.
Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, accused Israel of committing a “massacre” after Wednesday’s bombardment.
The Israeli military also reissued sweeping evacuation orders for much of southern Lebanon, which it has invaded and signaled that it plans to occupy in recent weeks.
The war began last month after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Iran. It has already killed more than 1,500 people in Lebanon and displaced well over a million, according to Lebanese authorities. At least two civilians have been killed in Israel by Hezbollah attacks, and about 10 soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon, according to Israeli officials.
Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement early on Wednesday contradicted a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, a key mediator of the Iran truce, who said that the two-week suspension of hostilities would extend to the small Mediterranean nation.
Lebanon’s leaders said on Wednesday that they were engaged in diplomatic efforts to also secure a truce, but it remained unclear whether that was possible.
For weeks, Israeli officials have publicly rebuffed overtures by Lebanon’s government to hold direct talks about a cease-fire — a significant offer given that the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations.
Earlier on Wednesday before the deadly wave of Israeli strikes, Mr. Aoun, the Lebanese president, said that efforts were underway to ensure that any “regional peace encompasses Lebanon.”
Both the Lebanese military and Hezbollah warned the hundreds of thousands of people displaced from southern Lebanon not return to their homes amid the ongoing Israeli attacks.
Many, however, were already on the road heading back to their homes.
“My family insisted on going to the south at dawn, the moment the cease-fire was announced,” said Lara Kanj, 34, who had fled amid the war to Beirut from the southern town of Kfar Melki.
“We want the Israelis to withdraw from our land. We want to live the life we used to have before the war. We are tired of this,” she said.
Like many Lebanese, Ms. Kanj expressed confusion at whether Lebanon had been included in the cease-fire deal, but voiced cautious optimism.
“We just need to wait a little longer,” she said.
Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the prevailing sentiment in Lebanon was that Washington had effectively given Israel a free hand, with Israeli officials showing little appetite for a political track to address their demand that Hezbollah disarm, and relying instead on military force.
“The U.S. is focused on Iran, and has no bandwidth,” said Mr. Hage Ali. “In the meantime, the Israeli answer to any problem is more and more strikes”
Even as Israel’s bombing campaign and expanding ground invasion weaken Hezbollah, analysts warn the conflict may endure, and with it the risk of civil instability in Lebanon.
Most of the displaced are Shiite Muslims, the core of Hezbollah’s support base, whose presence in host communities is heightening sectarian tensions.
The developments of the day left the war-weary Lebanese in a state of uncertainty and anxiety.
In the coastal village of Jadra, south of Beirut, Amir Hattoum, a father of two, said he was struggling to make ends meet. Displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs, he said he was paying $500 a month in rent, which he cannot sustain.
With only limited savings and airstrikes drawing closer, he said he was trying not to think too far ahead.
“I am living day by day,” Mr. Hattoum said. “It is exhausting.”
Francesca Regalado, Dayana Iwaza and Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Euan Ward is a Times reporter covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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