Hezbollah welcomes any effort to stop the war in Lebanon but does not pin its hopes for a ceasefire on a particular US administration, Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi said on Thursday when asked about Donald Trump’s election victory.
“It might be a change in the party who is in power, but when it comes to Israel, they have more or less the same policy,” Moussawi told Reuters. “We want to see actions, we want to see decisions taken,” he said.
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Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for more than a year, in parallel with the Gaza war, but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and military assets, while avoiding civilians. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials point to the rising death toll, with more than 3,000 killed, and widespread destruction in the country as evidence that Israel is targeting civilians.
US diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the US election on Tuesday in which former President Donald Trump recaptured the White House.
Moussawi acknowledged the heavy toll of Israeli attacks that have blown apart thousands of buildings, mostly in Lebanon’s Shia Muslim-dominated south and east and Beirut’s southern suburbs, but said the group’s military capabilities remained strong.
“Our hearts are broken – we are losing very dear lives. This feeling that [Israel] cannot be punished or brought to international justice is a result of US support which renders them immune to accountability,” he said.
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“America is a full partner in what’s happening because they can exercise influence to stop this destruction.”
Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American billionaire who is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, said he would be in charge of negotiating with the Lebanese side to reach an agreement to end the war, Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed quoted him as saying this week.
He also said that Trump was aiming to end the war before he took office in January, Al Jadeed reported. Reuters could not immediately reach Boulos.
The Israeli government celebrated Trump’s return to power, saying he was a leader who would support them “unconditionally.”
Strike at army checkpoint
Overnight on Wednesday, Israel carried out a series of strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including at least one strike just tens of meters from Beirut airport’s runways.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamiye said the airport was functioning normally on Thursday.
An Israeli strike on Thursday on a car at a Lebanese army checkpoint at the entrance to the southern city of Sidon killed three people and wounded three Lebanese soldiers and four members of a UN peacekeeping contingent, the Lebanese army said in a statement.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said a bus with UN markings that was part of a large convoy of UN peacekeepers had sustained damaged in the strike.
UNIFIL said in a statement that five newly-arrived peacekeepers were lightly injured in the Sidon drone strike and treated on the spot.