Lebanon's leaders criticised Hezbollah and Iran after the group rejected a ceasefire agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel, which failed to guarantee an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
President Joseph Aoun said Iran is “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with US” as Beirut conducts separate Washington-mediated talks.
“They deserve not seeing their homes destroyed every five to 10 years,” Mr Aoun told the CNN, referring to the Lebanese people. They were “fed up” with the constant state of war between Hezbollah and Israel, he added.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had lambasted the “Iranian Revolutionary Guards” for rejecting the ceasefire terms, referring to Hezbollah's chief backer, which is widely understood to hold significant sway over the group's operations.
“This is a new confirmation that this war is not our war, and that it is not fought for us, but on our land and at the expense of our people,” Mr Salam said on Friday.
He added that the direct negotiation path with Israel – a route abhorred by Hezbollah – was “the least costly option for Lebanon and its people, and the shortest option to secure the withdrawal of Israel”.
The Israeli military on Friday issued forced displacement orders for at least eight villages in Lebanon's Sidon district, saying it would carry out military strikes.
At least four people were killed in a series of Israeli strikes on south Lebanon earlier on Friday morning despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, which the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has rejected as “illusory”.
While Sidon is in the south of Lebanon, it is about 30km north of the buffer zone that Israel is occupying and focusing most of its bombings on in its pursuit of Hezbollah.
The displacement orders by the Israeli military forced thousands to flee from the major city, many only bundling a few belongings into their cars. Among them were families who had been previously been displaced from their homes further south.
The Israeli military initially ordered residents of Arnaya, Aanqoun and Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon to leave before air strikes.
There were mass departures particularly from Arnaya and Aanqoun, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
It said Aanqoun was sheltering 2,500 people who had been displaced earlier from other areas.
Shortly after, the Israeli army issued more displacement orders for Sarafand, Tefahta, Babliyeh, Qaaqaaiyet Al Snoubar, Merouaniyeh and Saksakiyeh.
The ceasefire is conditional on a complete halt in attacks by Hezbollah and on the Iran-backed militia and “all non-state actors” withdrawing from areas south of the Litani River, according to a joint statement released by Lebanon, Israel and the US following talks in Washington on Wednesday.
Lebanon and Israel also agreed to work with the US to create “pilot zones” that would be occupied by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese army began moving into the first of these – the village of Debbine next to Marjayoun, in the southern Nabatieh governorate – on Thursday.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned on Thursday that his group would continue to fight until Israel withdrew its troops.
The latest round of fighting began on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in support of Iran, which the Israelis and the US had started bombing two days earlier.
Israel responded by sending troops across the border into southern Lebanon, supported by air strikes. The Israeli retaliatory offensive has so far killed more than 3,500, wounded 10,000 and displaced well over a million.
The UN said on Friday that it was launching a new aid appeal, alongside the Lebanese government, for an additional $331.5 million to assist 1.4 million people affected by the war.
It brings the total amount the world body is seeking on behalf of the country to $639.9 million. The UN had received $185.9 million as of May 31.
“In the past three months, communities across Lebanon have faced an appalling situation due to the escalation of hostilities,” UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator Imran Riza told Reuters.
