A Palestinian Fatah official died on Wednesday, August 21, killed by an Israeli strike on the city of Saida, in southern Lebanon, a leader of the organization founded by Yasser Arafat told AFP. This is the first time that a leader of this organization, from which the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, comes, has been directly targeted by Israel, in ten months of renewed clashes on the border between Lebanon and Israel. Follow our live coverage.
Succession of deadly strikes in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israeli strikes killed one person and wounded 19 in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Israel had already targeted the area on Tuesday, with the army saying it is home to “Hezbollah weapons warehouses.” The Lebanese Shiite movement, supported by Iran and allied with Hamas, had for its part announced the death of four of its fighters in other bombings attributed to the Israeli army, this time in the south of Lebanon.
Return fire towards Israel. Hezbollah claimed on Tuesday to have fired rockets at several military positions in northern Israel, as well as at the occupied Golan Heights, presenting these strikes as a response to the death of four of its fighters in Israeli bombardments. The Israeli army reported 115 projectiles fired from Lebanon. “Csome” have been “intercepted”, when others are “fallen into uninhabited areas”, without causing any injuries.
Negotiations are continuing. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up his diplomatic tour of the Middle East. He warned Israel and Hamas that the plan proposed by Washington represents, in his view, the “last chance”“to end the escalation in the region. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the principles of this plan, Antony Blinken has also urged him to show a “maximum flexibility”.