The China Mail - Fresh strikes hit south Beirut after Israeli evacuation calls

The strikes come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met visiting US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon with the death toll mounting on both sides of the border.

AFPTV footage showed explosions followed by clouds of smoke unfurling in the suburbs.

"The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were levelled to the ground, in addition to the outbreak of fires," Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said.

The strikes targeted the suburban areas of Ghobeiry and Al-Kafaat, the Sayyed Hadi Highway, the vicinity of the Al-Mujtaba Complex and the old airport road, it added.

The Israeli military has repeatedly bombarded south Beirut in recent weeks, while also carrying out deadly strikes elsewhere in the capital and across Lebanon.

- Ceasefire talks -

During talks on Thursday, Israeli leader Netanyahu told US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any Lebanon deal must guarantee Israel's longer-term scrutiny.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also separately met the Americans, saying in a statement that their discussions focused on "security arrangements as these relate to the northern arena and Lebanon, and efforts to ensure the return of 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza".

According to Israeli media reports citing government sources, the US-brokered plan would see Hezbollah forces retreat around 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the border, north of the Litani River.

Israeli troops would withdraw from Lebanon and the Lebanese army would then take charge of the border, alongside UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon would be responsible for preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself with imported weapons, and Israel would retain its rights under international law to act in self-defence.

Analysts say Israel's campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah has put it in a position of strength to reach a deal.

- Growing death toll -

Also on Thursday, Israeli medics and a local leader reported seven Israelis killed by cross-border fire from Lebanon -- one of the highest one-day tolls in Israel in more than a year of cross-border exchanges.

Four Thais in the northern Israeli town of Metula were also killed by rocket fire from Lebanon on Thursday, according to Thailand's foreign minister.

The regional council in Metula had said that one local farmer and four foreign farm workers had been killed in the strike.

Since fighting in Lebanon escalated on September 23, after tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas, the war has killed at least 1,829 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said Thursday that the war has caused the death of a least one child per day and wounded an average of 10 daily since October 4.

Israel's military says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

The NNA said the Israeli army carried out strikes on east Lebanon's main city of Baalbek on Thursday, two hours after it issued an evacuation order. The operation reportedly left six people dead and destroyed several houses and buildings.

The NNA said six others were also killed in raids on the town of Maqna, which was not included in the Israeli evacuation order.

- Gaza talks -

Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem -- who took the reins after Israel killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah -- has not explicitly linked a Lebanon ceasefire to an end to fighting in Gaza, the group's previous position.

"If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable," he said in his first speech since taking over on Tuesday.

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have long been trying to secure a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Israel's war in Gaza.

Mediators seeking to broker a ceasefire are expected to propose a truce of "less than a month" to the Palestinian group Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks has told AFP.

The proposal involves exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to the territory, the source added.

But on Thursday, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu reiterated that the group rejected a short-term pause.

"Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary one," Nunu said.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel last year triggered the war and resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground war have killed 43,204 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the health ministry, figures the United Nations considers reliable.

C.Smith--ThChM