Lebanon urges US ambassador to push Israel to halt bombardments

Lebanese leaders urged the US ambassador to Beirut to pressure Israel to halt its attacks as it pounded the country with airstrikes on Monday despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanon urges US ambassador to push Israel to halt bombardmentsLebanese authorities raised the overall death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to 2,869 people. That figure includes dozens killed since the truce went into force on April 17. Israel's military said one of its soldiers had been killed a day earlier in fighting near the border with Lebanon, bringing its losses to 18 troops and a civilian contractor since the war began. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met separately with US ambassador Michel Issa in preparation for a third meeting between Lebanese and Israeli representatives set to take place in Washington on Thursday and Friday. Salam said he asked Issa to "exert pressure on Israel to stop the ongoing attacks and violations, in order to consolidate the ceasefire". Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon of late, with weekend strikes reaching as close as around 20 kilometres from the capital Beirut. On Monday, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes on more than 30 locations in the south and east. It reported casualties in several areas, including south Lebanon's Zebdine, where it said an Israeli drone struck two people "while they were distributing bread" in a municipality vehicle to residents who had refused to leave the town. Under the terms of the ceasefire published by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".- Displacement -Israel's army issued an evacuation warning ahead of strikes on seven south Lebanon towns and two others in the Bekaa region in the country's east. The NNA reported a "large wave of displacement" in West Bekaa as hundreds of families fled the threatened towns. Lebanese authorities say the war has displaced more than one million people. Hezbollah claimed at least 20 attacks on Israeli military targets in south Lebanon, including bulldozing equipment, in what it said was retaliation for ceasefire violations. The Israeli army said two Hezbollah drones had damaged "unmanned engineering vehicles" in south Lebanon, and that its troops had "eliminated" a militant cell there. Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion. Its troops are operating inside an Israeli-declared "yellow line" that runs around 10 kilometres north of Lebanon's border where Lebanese residents have been warned not to return. In an interview with Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya channel on Sunday, Salam said the country was "facing the occupation of 68 Lebanese villages as a result of this war that was imposed on us".nad/lg/smwThis article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.