Despite President Donald Trump’s recent demand that Israel halt its bombing campaign of Lebanon amid his administration’s efforts to secure a peace deal with Iran, the Israeli military confirmed that it had carried out “about 50 airstrikes” targeting what it claimed to be Hezbollah infrastructure sites, NBC News reported Saturday.
Last month, Trump issued an unusually fierce demand to Israeli leadership, declaring Israel to be "prohibited by the U.S.A” from “bombing Lebanon any longer.” A key demand of Iranian leaders in their negotiations with the United States has been that Israel halt its siege on Lebanon.
Earlier this week, Trump took a softer approach, telling Israel’s Channel 12 that he had personally asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “act in a more targeted way in Lebanon,” adding that the level of destruction Israel has caused “gives Israel a bad image,” Drop Site News reported.
Despite Trump’s pleas, Israel has continued to carry out intense strikes on Southern Lebanon, leveling entire “neighborhoods in towns and villages,” per NBC News, with its latest barrage of strikes killing at least seven people on Saturday, and despite Israel having agreed to a ceasefire with Lebanon at the behest of Trump.
Israel’s most recent invasion of Lebanon in March has sparked a “humanitarian crisis,” displacing more than 1 million people – including 350,000 children – and killing at least 2,618 people and injuring 8,094, per Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.