Rubio also claimed that Israel had no desire to remain indefinitely stationed in Lebanon, despite the establishement of troops and a demarcation line[Getty]
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended Israel’s daily assaults in Lebanon despite a ceasefire covering the country, and claimed that Washington was ensuring that attacks are “proportionate and targeted”.
In the interview, the Secretary of State described the ongoing Israeli conflict in Lebanon as a “unique situation” and claimed that the ceasefire agreement stipulated Israel’s right to “respond to missile threats”.
He added that the war was between Israel and Hezbollah and does not involve the Lebanese state, despite the countless number of civilian deaths in the country, including children.
Rubio, who attended the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in years earlier this month, also claimed that Israel has no territorial claims over the country, and that the current troop presence in the south is merely a “temporary” measure served to “protect northern settlements from rockets and small arms”.
He also stressed that Israel’s invasion was not “an occupation”, despite Israeli ministers pushing for the annexation of southern Lebanon.
Israel established a so-called buffer zone in southern Lebanon last month, similar to the yellow demarcation line in Gaza, stretching from Naqoura town to Kfarshuba village and covering around 6 percent of Lebanese territory.
The Israeli military has also gone on to prohibit evacuated residents from returning to their homes in a move that has triggered fears of permanent Israeli annexation and occupation.
Rubio denied that Israel seeks to keep the demarcation line indefinitely and claimed that “both the Lebanese and the Israelis seek peace” and that there is “no problem between them”.
He called on the Lebanese to reject Hezbollah in the interview and alleged that the people of Lebanon also themselves “also consider” the Iran-backed group to be a problem.
The ceasefire aims to “strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces’ capabilities so they can disarm and dismantle Hezbollah within Lebanon, and so that Israel does not have to do so”, he added.
’A fire that will burn the country’
Rubio’s comments came as Israeli forces continued to breach the ceasefire, launching attacks on several southern towns on Tuesday, while Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Lebanon with a “fire that will burn the country”.
Three airstrikes targeted Zawtar al-Sharqiyah in the Nabatieh district, while Israeli troops fired heavy machine guns in the Mihniyeh neighbourhood in Bint Jbeil.
Israeli warplanes also bombed the town of Jabal al-Batoum in the Tyre district, while a drone strike targeted a motorcycle in the town of Majdal Zoun, also in the Tyre district.
Two people were injured in the incident, according to NNA, with drones spotted over the capital, Beirut.
The Israeli army has issued an evacuation order for over a dozen towns in southern Lebanon, indicating imminent attack, which comes after the killing of at least four people, including a woman, in southern Lebanon on Monday.
At least 51 others, including children, were wounded in the Israeli strikes on various areas of southern Lebanon.
On 16 April, Trump declared a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, before it was extended on Monday for an additional three weeks.
Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East conflict on 2 March, triggered by the joint US and Israeli military assault on Iran, after Hezbollah and Israel engaged in clashes.
At least 2,509 Lebanese have been killed since, while more than 1.6 million people have been displaced.
Amid its attacks on Lebanon, the Israeli military claimed it had struck “over 1,000” Hezbollah-linked infrastructures, including “booby-trapped buildings and buildings where weapons were located”.
It also said to have confiscated “hundreds of weapons, including machine guns, Kalashnikov-type weapons, grenades, mines, pistols, antitank missiles, ammunition, RPG rockets, and mortar bombs”.
It comes as two Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in a Hezbollah attack on Monday, according to the military.
