According to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, 16 people were killed in an attack on a UN school

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s highest Sunni religious authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, has thanked “the brotherly Arab countries and friendly countries that are rushing to help and support Lebanon.”

Derian’s comments in Beirut on Saturday came at a time when Lebanese politicians and the public were divided over Hezbollah’s decision to open the southern front without consulting the government.

Derian said: “What Israel is doing in the villages and towns of steadfast southern Lebanon and other regions are deliberate war crimes against all Lebanese, and awareness and wisdom are needed in dealing with this dangerous aggression.

“During the war that Israel started against Lebanon in 2006, we managed to hold together with the support of the Arabs and the international community,” he continued. “The country survived a great catastrophe.”

“The problems are bigger today, but solidarity is less. Yet there is still compassion for Lebanon, as evidenced by Arab and international visits.”

“This reality requires solidarity to elect a president and stop the effects of the division we are witnessing in public opinion.”

Derian’s appeal came at a time when the Supreme Islamic Sharia Council stressed the importance of “local and international initiatives and efforts to help Lebanon emerge from the dark tunnel it is in and return to the right path.”

The council called for “national unity to counter Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.”

The Council also condemned the “silence of the international community on the most heinous crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and the Lebanese territories.”
International efforts are focused on limiting the fighting in southern Lebanon to existing borders and ending the exchange of fire pending the outcome of negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated “the risk that confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel will escalate into a full-scale war” and stressed “the need to reach a political solution”.

The Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, expressed the UN’s concern about “the increasing intensity of exchanges of fire across the Blue Line, which increases the risk of large-scale war.”

Dujarric said: “Escalation can and must be avoided, and we reiterate that the risk of miscalculation leading to a sudden and major conflagration is real. A political and diplomatic solution is the only viable way forward.”

Diplomatic pressure to prevent an escalation towards a full-scale war continues through US-French coordination.

According to a report, German-led negotiations on a solution for southern Lebanon are also progressing. The German side is calling for a withdrawal from the borders until diplomatic negotiations on the Gaza Strip are concluded.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah clarified his party’s position on efforts to enforce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

He said: “If the Israeli aggression in Gaza stops, the supporting fronts will also stop. Our front in Lebanon is a supporting front that puts pressure on the enemy’s army to stop this aggression.”

Hezbollah’s new stance coincided with a relative calm on the southern front. The ongoing exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army decreased significantly on Saturday after a significant escalation in the previous two days.

MP Fadlallah stressed that “the day after the end of the aggression against Lebanon will be a Lebanese day par excellence”.

He reiterated that the decisions “that will be taken on that day will be solely Lebanese and will be taken by the Lebanese people and those involved in the conflict from the official institutions and the resistance under the umbrella of preserving sovereignty.”

This, he continued, would prevent Israel from achieving in politics what it had failed to achieve through “war, fighting, bombing, destruction and assassinations.”

Fadlallah also said that “the exhaustion of the Israeli army and its inability to achieve its objectives” would end the war.

“We are entering a new phase,” he said, adding that it was difficult for Israel to maintain fighting in Gaza as resistance in Palestine had already been going on for nine months.

Major General Israel Ziv, former Israeli army chief of operations, warned: “Increased military action in the north is the wrong tactic if we do not want to wage war.”

He added: “A war in Lebanon would lead to a confrontation with Iran. This is the worst time to open multiple fronts.”

Hezbollah said it carried out an airstrike with a squadron of attack drones on Saturday morning on an artillery position of the 403rd Battalion of the 91st Division in Beit Hillel, setting fires there in response to “Israeli attacks on resilient villages, safe houses and civilians in the south on Friday.”

The Israeli army claimed it intercepted an air target from Lebanon in the Galilee and two targets crashed in “open areas” in Beit Hillel.

The Israeli army also opened a barrage of fire on Birkat Risha and the outskirts of the city of Ramyah from its positions opposite the town of Aita Al-Shaab.