Israeli strikes kill 3 in as Lebanon to seek truce extension

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed three people in Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, despite an ongoing 10-day ceasefire, which an official said Beirut will request an extension for in the upcoming talks with Israel in Washington. Ahead of the talks on Thursday, Israel called on the Lebanese government to 'work together' with it against Hezbollah.
The two governments, which do not have diplomatic relations with each other, are set to hold a second round of talks under US auspices on Thursday, in a bid to end more than six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah that began on March 2. Lebanon will request a one-month extension of the ceasefire during the meeting with Israel, a Lebanese official said.
'Lebanon will request an extension of the truce for one month, an end of Israel's bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire,' the Lebanese official said, on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks. The ten-day ceasefire, which expires on Sunday, was announced after an initial meeting last week. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, for his part, said on Wednesday that 'contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period'. He said Lebanon seeks 'a complete halt on Israeli attacks and the achievement of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory'.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that Israel does not have any 'serious disagreements' with Lebanon. Hezbollah — represented in the Lebanese cabinet and parliament — strongly opposes the direct talks with Israel pushed by Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Despite the truce, Israel is continuing its strikes in Lebanon, where one person was killed on Wednesday in the eastern Bekaa region, and two were killed in the country's south, according to state media.
Meanwhile, a second French soldier died on Wednesday from wounds suffered in a weekend ambush against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon blamed on Hezbollah, President Emmanuel Macron said. A first soldier, staff sergeant Florian Montorio, was shot dead in the Saturday ambush, for which Hezbollah has denied responsibility. 'Corporal Anicet Girardin... brought home yesterday from Lebanon, where he was badly wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning of the consequences of his wounds,' Macron posted on X.
One of three soldiers hurt in the same attack, Girardin, a member of a specialist dog-handling unit, was part of a mission 'to clear a route booby-trapped with an improvised explosive device', Armies Minister Catherine Vautrin posted on X. 'Coming under sustained fire from concealed Hezbollah fighters at very close range, he moved to aid his section leader who had just fallen, only to be seriously hit in turn,' she added.
Macron and Vautrin offered their condolences to Girardin's family and loved ones. He is the third French soldier to die since the start of the fighting in the Middle East, after Montorio and the killing of Arnaud Frion last month by an Iranian drone in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Both Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah for the Saturday attack on peacekeepers belonging to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). French soldiers in UNIFIL 'are working bravely and determinedly in service of France and peace in Lebanon,' Macron wrote. — AFP