Israel says Iran launched missiles at it in first such attack since April ceasefire

Jerusalem: Israel says Iran has launched missiles at it in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, complicating mediation efforts for a deal to end the war.

Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the launch of missiles and multiple explosions were heard in northern Israel. Israel’s military said it was working on intercepting the missiles but “the defence is not hermetic”, adding that sirens sounded in several areas of the country.

Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel on Sunday struck Beirut’s southern suburbs in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. Israel called it retaliation for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah firing at northern Israel earlier in the day.

Israel’s attack on Beirut came a few days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in U.S.-hosted talks, though Hezbollah rejected the deal. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Mideast, even as Pakistan tries to restart talks between Tehran and Washington. Iran wants a deal to include ending the war in Lebanon.

Israel’s strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, and the militant group’s resistance to disarming, have complicated an overall deal to end the war in the Middle East. Iran says any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.

The White House did not comment on Israel’s strike in Beirut. Israel on Monday had announced it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks via Washington halted that on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.

Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for firing at Israel earlier Sunday.

Hezbollah wants the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to end and instead supports Iran’s stance that an overall ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington include the situation in Lebanon.

Mediation efforts on that larger deal continued Sunday as Pakistan’s interior minister visited Iran to talk with officials and Egypt said its foreign minister and his Qatari counterpart discussed “proposed elements” of a potential agreement, with no details.

US President Donald Trump, in an interview taped Friday and aired Sunday with NBC’s Meet the Press, said that “I’d like to see Lebanon have a better life. I’d like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical”.

Trump added that he was “not demanding” that Lebanon be part of the short-term deal to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war.

More than 3500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began attacking Iran. More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced. The fighting has killed at least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

Meanwhile, Iran continued to assert its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. continued its blockade of Iranian ports, with shipments of oil, natural gas and fertiliser affected and the global economy in pain.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until he believes Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.

Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday. Mohsin Naqvi was delivering a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. There were no details on the message’s contents.

Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic’s ruler after his father was killed on February 28, the first day of the war.

Naqvi met with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni late on Saturday and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday, according to official Iranian media.

Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, is working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran.

In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty and Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed “proposed elements” of a potential agreement between the U.S. and Iran, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, without details.

AP

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