Israel Cancels Planned Strikes on Beirut Following Threat From Iran
Israel has pulled its planned strikes on Beirut. Netanyahu had ordered an operation against Dahiyeh and the capital and issued an evacuation order for residents, with the strikes set to go ahead. Citizens in the suburb had already been evacuating throughout the day following the order.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the central command of the Iranian regime’s armed forces, then warned that if it did, residents of northern Israel and its military settlements should leave if they did not wish to be harmed. Within the hour, the strikes were off.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kann reported that Netanyahu postponed the strikes on Dahiyeh following an urgent call from Trump, just after 7pm, and Israeli media tied the decision directly to the Iranian warning.
Within a chaotic fifteen minutes, Trump announced that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop all attacks on one another, casting it as a complete new ceasefire sealed by a 'very good call with Hezbollah.'
The claim ran ahead of the facts, and it’s currently unclear if there are any facts. A real but narrow arrangement may exist, but if it does, it’s still being negotiated. The Lebanese Presidency confirmed a US proposal for a mutual cessation, Israeli strikes on Dahiyeh to stop in exchange for Hezbollah holding fire, and a Lebanese official told Reuters that Hezbollah, through Speaker Nabih Berri, had signalled it would halt attacks on northern Israel if Israel spared Beirut and its suburbs.
Hezbollah itself has confirmed none of it, and Israeli strikes continue to fall on Lebanon. What Trump cast as a finished, comprehensive ceasefire, Netanyahu described as something far narrower and entirely conditional. In his own statement the Israeli prime minister said he had told Trump that Israel will strike Beirut if Hezbollah does not stop attacking its cities, that this position is unchanged, and that the IDF will keep operating as planned in southern Lebanon.
We will follow up on the proposed ceasefire if it begins to look like an element of reality.