Hezbollah wants actions, not words, from America after Trump returns to the White House

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From Taimur Azhari

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah member of the Lebanese House of Representatives, Ibrahim al-Musawi, said on Thursday that the group welcomes any effort to end the war in Lebanon, but does not express their hopes for a truce on the special American administration, in response to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.

“It may be a change in the party in power, but when it comes to Israel, its policy is almost the same,” Al-Moussawi told Reuters.

He said, “We want to see actions and we want to see decisions.

Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group have been exchanging fire for more than a year in parallel with the war in Gaza, but fighting has escalated since the end of September, with Israeli forces intensifying the bombing of large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon and the land. into small towns.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and assets and sparing civilians.

Hezbollah and Lebanese officials point to the high death toll, which has exceeded 3,000 since October 2023, and widespread destruction in the country as evidence that Israel is targeting civilians.

US diplomatic efforts to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, collapsed last week ahead of the elections. USA On Tuesday former President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Al-Moussawi acknowledged the heavy losses resulting from the Israeli attacks that destroyed thousands of buildings, most of them in the Shiite majority south and east of Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut. , but he said the group’s military capabilities remain strong.

“Our hearts are broken – we are losing lives very dearly,” he said. “It is this feeling that Israel cannot be punished or brought to international justice as a result of American support that makes it immune from accountability .”

He said, “America is a full participant in what is happening because they can take advantage of its influence to stop this destruction.”

Massad Boulos, the Lebanese-American billionaire and father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, denied​​​​​​a report broadcast by the Lebanese Al-Jadeed channel this week that he would be the ambassador at Trump who is responsible for negotiating with the Lebanese side to reach an agreement. to end the war.

Boulos told Reuters the report was completely false.

The Israeli government celebrated Trump’s return to power, saying it would support him “unconditionally.”

* Bombing of the military checkpoint

The Israeli army said on Thursday that five of its soldiers were killed and 16 wounded in fighting in southern Lebanon. The army did not reveal the time of these battles.

During the night hours of Wednesday, Israel carried out a series of strikes in the suburbs of Beirut, including at least one strike dozens of meters away from the runways of Beirut Airport.

Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamiya said the airport was operating normally on Thursday.

The Lebanese army said in a statement on Thursday that an Israeli attack targeted a car at a Lebanese army checkpoint at the entrance to the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, killing three civilians and wounding three Lebanese soldiers and four soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force. in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

A Reuters journalist at the site of the strike said that a bus bearing the logo of the United Nations was damaged in the bombing. The bus was part of a large coalition of UN peacekeepers.

UNIFIL said in a statement that five newly arrived peacekeepers were slightly injured in a drone attack in Sidon and received immediate treatment.

The governor of the Baalbek region in eastern Lebanon and one of the groups that organizes cultural events there said on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday destroyed an Ottoman-era building near the Baalbek temples, which is listed on the Education of the United Nations, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

Governor Bashir Khader told Reuters that the attack targeted the empty archaeological complex, the closest attack so far to the complex of Greco-Roman and Phoenician temples located meters away.

“It’s a neighborhood for craft businesses, and it’s usually full of tourists,” he said.