Maham Khan

ISLAMABAD: For three months, Iran watched Israel pound Lebanon, including Hezbollah positions, civilian infrastructure, and a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tyre. The death toll from Israel&rsquo;s aerial campaign climbed past 3,526, according to AFP. Nearly one-fifth of Lebanon&rsquo;s population was displaced. Iran did not launch a single ballistic missile at Israel in response. So, what changed on June 7? The answer is not the scale of the strike. It is where Israel struck, when it struck, and most critically, what it chose to ignore in the process. The line Iran had drawn Iran had been explicit. Tehran warned that an Israeli strike on the Dahiyeh district, a densely populated southern suburb of Beirut that serves as Hezbollah&rsquo;s de facto headquarters, would invalidate the ceasefire entirely. Dahiyeh was the red line, not a rhetorical one but a stated, documented threshold. Israel struck it anyway on June 7, killing two people and wounding 20, according to Lebanon&rsquo;s ministry of public health. The strike targeted a militant command center. It was launched without civil evacuation orders, a departure from Israel&rsquo;s own standard operating practice in previous campaigns, according to AP. Three compounding factors made it explosive beyond the point of no return. First, the timing. Pakistan&rsquo;s interior minister was in Tehran at that exact moment, leading a high-level mediator delegation. Regional diplomats told Al Jazeera and AP they concluded almost immediately that the strike was a calculated attempt to wreck the US-Iran negotiating track. Not a tactical response to Hezbollah rockets, which had been fired at Israeli barracks earlier that morning. Second, the instruction was ignored. US President Donald Trump had explicitly told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu days earlier not to conduct military operations in Beirut, warning it would derail the peace talks he described as &ldquo;very close to a final deal.&rdquo; Israel struck anyway. &ldquo;I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn&rsquo;t call the shots,&rdquo; Trump told the Financial Times. It was a remarkable public admission that his ally had stopped listening. Third, the absence of a warning. No evacuation orders, no pre-strike civilian alerts. In a district Iran had specifically identified as a tripwire, Israel offered no off-ramp. General Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran&rsquo;s military central command, declared Israel had &ldquo;crossed all red lines&rdquo; and authorized direct retaliation against Israeli territory, as reported by AFP and the Straits Times. The regional verdict Saudi Arabia, which had carefully avoided taking sides through months of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, issued a formal condemnation after the Dahiyeh strike. The Saudi Foreign Ministry declared &ldquo;condemnation and rejection&rdquo; of the continuation of Israeli aggression against Lebanon, according to Al Arabiya. Egypt and Turkey moved into emergency diplomatic mode. Oman called a truce that excluded Lebanon, &ldquo;not the beginning of peace.&rdquo; The regional response confirmed what the attack had made clear: after months of tolerating Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory, the Dahiyeh strike crossed a political threshold, not just a military one. The people left behind Below the diplomacy, Lebanon was already in collapse. More than 1.3 million people had been displaced, which is roughly a quarter of the population. The UN had been forced to more than double its emergency aid appeal, raising it from $308 million to $639.9 million as of June 5, according to OCHA. For Lebanon&rsquo;s 250,000 Palestinian refugees, already stateless and structurally excluded from the Lebanese economy, the bombardment meant a second displacement inside a single lifetime for many families. Israeli evacuation orders south of the Zahrani River emptied the camps of Rashidieh, Burj al-Shemali, and el-Buss. Shatila and Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut were hit and road-sealed. UNRWA, already stripped of US funding and facing a $220 million shortfall, was forced to cut services by 20%, reduce school weeks, and close five schools in Ain al-Hilweh, according to field reporting from War on the Rocks and Al Estiklal. In the West Bank, the Israeli military separately extended a closure order over three refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm until July 31, keeping more than 33,000 Palestinians displaced since January, according to the UN Secretary-General&rsquo;s Office. The Dahiyeh strike did not start this crisis. But it made plain that no ceiling -- geographic, diplomatic, or humanitarian -- was holding.

Middle East

Israel has been bombing Lebanon for months and Iran watched. Then came a no-warning strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs during active peace talks and over Trump’s explicit objections to Netanyahu, and Tehran’s calculus snapped.

Why did Iran choose this moment to fire missiles at Israel?

Web Desk/AFP

Americas

Rubio denounces NATO refusal to help on Iran ahead of alliance talks; Iran condemns treatment of Gaza flotilla activists at Ashdod Port; Italy requests EU sanctions on Israeli minister over treatment of activists.







Middle East roundup: Iranian ambassador praises Pakistan’s role in securing release of 20 Iranian sailors

Mohsin Naqvi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian; holds talks with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni on various matters. 

Middle East roundup: Pakistan interior minister holds meetings with senior Iranian leadership in Tehran

Says talks with Iran are progressing well, but warns military action could resume if negotiations fail; Palestinian foreign ministry slams Israel’s flotilla interception as a war crime; Qatar says US-Iran negotiations require more time to reach a deal.

Middle East roundup: US VP Vance says Iran talks making 'good progress'

Says Iran’s proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz is under discussion by senior officials; Putin tells Iran FM Moscow will do 'everything' to help secure Mideast peace; Iran FM says Islamic Republic is 'stable, solid' in meeting with Putin; EU’s von der Leyen says too early to drop sanctions against Iran; Saudi Arabia commends diplomatic initiatives led by Pakistan.






Day 59: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

Iran fires missiles at Israel as strikes intensify across the region, Trump issues fresh threats and ultimatums, and tensions rise after attacks on energy sites, military targets and infrastructure, deepening instability across the Middle East.

Day 36: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

BEIRUT: UN chief Antonio Guterres said Saturday on a visit to Beirut that diplomatic channels remained open to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah and urged the international community to support Lebanon.&nbsp;&quot;There is no military solution, only diplomacy, dialogue and full implementation of the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions. The diplomatic avenues are available, including through my special coordinator for Lebanon... and through key member states,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;We are doing everything we can now to bring about an immediate de-escalation and the cessation of hostilities,&quot; Guterres told reporters.&nbsp;&quot;My special coordinator is engaging with all actors around the clock to bring the parties to the table and UNIFIL peacekeepers... remain in position,&quot; he said, referring to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.&nbsp;He said attacks against peacekeepers and positions were &quot;completely unacceptable and they must stop. They are in breach of international law and may constitute war crimes&quot;.&nbsp;Three peacekeepers serving with the Ghanaian contingent were wounded earlier this month in south Lebanon.&nbsp;Guterres arrived in Beirut on Friday for what he called a &quot;solidarity&quot; visit, and launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon as it responds to the displacement crisis.&nbsp;&quot;My message to the international community is simply step up your engagement, empower the Lebanese state and support the Lebanese Armed Forces to secure the capabilities and resources they need. Respond generously to the humanitarian appeal,&quot; he said.&nbsp;The Israeli army has issued sweeping evacuation orders to residents of south Lebanon and Beirut&#39;s southern suburbs, with the Norwegian Refugee Council saying they cover 14 percent of Lebanese territory.&nbsp;&quot;Evacuation orders in a situation where so many vulnerable populations exist in the areas that are asked to be evacuated does not create enough security for civilians, and whatever does not create enough security for civilians inevitably becomes in violation of international humanitarian law,&quot; Guterres said.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the fighting in Lebanon should be stopped through talks, not war. He urged all sides to stop fighting and use talks, diplomacy, and UN rules and resolutions to find peace.

UN chief says 'diplomatic avenues' available to stop war in Lebanon

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday condemned Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;continued&rdquo; military aggression in southern Lebanon, which has claimed more than 400 civilian lives, including at least 83 children and 42 women, and displaced over 600,000 people.&nbsp;Speaking at the United Nations, Pakistan&rsquo;s Deputy Representative Usman Jadoon highlighted the scale of destruction caused by Israeli strikes and criticized the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law.&nbsp;&ldquo;Lebanon is a country of remarkable diversity, shaped by layers of civilization and rich cultural legacy,&rdquo; Jadoon said. &ldquo;Its people have long shown resilience in the face of adversity, preserving a vibrant social fabric rooted in coexistence among communities and traditions.&rdquo;&nbsp;He urged the international community to allow Lebanon a period of calm to pursue peace and stability, warning that continued escalation threatens far more than infrastructure.&nbsp;&ldquo;Sweeping illegal evacuation orders across large parts of southern Lebanon have deepened civilian suffering,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;Jadoon emphasized that the use of force must remain the &ldquo;exclusive prerogative&rdquo; of the Lebanese state, with the Lebanese Armed Forces playing a central role.&nbsp;&ldquo;Pakistan supports efforts to strengthen their capacity and operational effectiveness,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;The Pakistani diplomat welcomed recent initiatives by the Lebanese government, including the March 2 Cabinet decision to reinforce national security structures and the four-point plan aimed at restoring calm and stability.&nbsp;He also strongly condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL who were injured in Israeli strikes. &ldquo;Their safety and security must be guaranteed at all times,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Jadoon denounced the continued Israeli military presence and construction of positions inside Lebanese territory as &ldquo;illegal and unacceptable.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;These actions contravene international law and undermine Lebanon&rsquo;s efforts to ensure peace and stability,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;He called for Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;immediate, full, and unconditional withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territories.&rdquo;&nbsp;Highlighting the broader regional context, Jadoon said the situation in Lebanon cannot be viewed in isolation.&nbsp;&ldquo;Heightened confrontation and unjustified attacks on several brotherly countries, which Pakistan has condemned, have gravely aggravated regional security and stability,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;He urged that &ldquo;dialogue and diplomacy must prevail over confrontation&rdquo; and called for de-escalation, restraint, and renewed diplomatic engagement to prevent further deterioration of regional security.&nbsp;&ldquo;Only sustained political dialogue and respect for international law can lead the region toward stability and peace,&rdquo; he concluded.

Foreign Affairs

Security

Pakistan condemned Israel’s “continued” military aggression in southern Lebanon, which has claimed more than 400 civilian lives, including at least 83 children and 42 women, and displaced over 600,000 people

Articles tagged with "Israel strikes on Lebanon"