BEIRUT: The Zionist entity flatly rejected on Thursday a push led by key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, vowing to keep fighting Hezbollah militants “until victory”. Zionist bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement earlier saying he had “not even responded” to the truce proposal, and that he had ordered the military “to continue the fighting with full force”. The United States, France and other allies called for a 21-day halt, after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The situation in Lebanon has become “intolerable” and “is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of (the Zionist entity) nor of the people of Lebanon,” their joint statement said. Despite the diplomatic efforts, violence raged on the ground. The Zionist defense ministry announced that it had secured a new $8.7-billion aid package from the United States to support the country’s ongoing military

efforts, underlining Washington’s unwillingness to use its military aid as leverage for a ceasefire.

The Zionist military said it struck about 75 targets in the eastern Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon, Hezbollah bastions that have seen a huge exodus of civilians fleeing their homes in recent days. A strike on the town of Yunin near Baalbek killed at least 20 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, with the official National News Agency describing the bombing of the area as “the most violent” of recent days. “It was indescribable, it was one of the worst nights we’ve lived through,” said Fadia Rafic Yaghi, 70, who owns a shop in Baalbek.

For the fourth time this week, the Zionist military conducted a strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, which the Zionist military said killed the head of the group’s drone unit. The Lebanese health ministry said two people were killed in the strike. It said 60 people had been killed nationwide over the previous 24 hours, among 1,540 killed since hostilities between the Zionist entity and Hezbollah began last October.

The Zionist military said two barrages of 40 to 45 rockets each had been fired from Lebanon into the Zionist entity on Thursday, with many of them intercepted and no reports of casualties. Hezbollah said the first barrage targeted defense industry complexes near the port city of Haifa, while the second targeted the northern town of Safed.

The Zionist military said Hezbollah positions along the border with Syria were among its latest targets. Zionist military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive, according to an army statement. Zionist strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday — by far the deadliest day of violence in Lebanon not just in the latest escalation, but since the 1975-1990 civil war.

According to the UN, Zionist bombardment of Lebanon had by Wednesday forced 90,000 people to flee their homes in traditional Hezbollah strongholds to safer areas elsewhere in the tiny Mediterranean country. Lebanon’s disaster management unit said more than 31,000 had fled to neighboring Syria. A 19-year-old woman who fled from south Lebanon to Beirut said a temporary halt in the violence would not be enough. “What we want is to be able to go back home for good, with guarantees,” Rayan Mustafa said. – AFP