Those who lived through Lebanon's civil war five decades ago say they feel echoes of the intercommunal tensions and violence they witnessed then, and see a risk of renewed fighting https://t.co/Nr7rLnsxhB
🚨BREAKING🚨Israeli forces are now issuing direct death threats to Lebanese journalists on WhatsApp as well as besieging them.
Al-Akhbar correspondent @AmalKhalil83, who has been documenting the devastation across southern Lebanon, received these messages from an Israeli number (+972 54-869-5113):
“We know where you are… we will reach you… leave if you want to keep your head on your shoulders.”
First message:
“Alright, my lady, you are moving from one village to another, but you still haven’t gone to enough funerals or hospitals. There is a lot of grief & sorrow behind that smile you try to show on Twitter. Let’s see what your answer will be… Is your house still standing, Anisa (Miss)? I hope so?”
Second message:
“We know where you are & we will reach you when the time comes. Even though you are not important to us, in the end we will take everything into account. I suggest you flee to Qatar or somewhere else if you want to keep your head connected to your shoulders :)”
This is not intimidation. This is the IDF issuing an explicit death threat to a journalist for covering their crimes.
At the same time, Israeli forces besieged Amal al-Khalil & journalist Zeinab Faraj in al-Tayri, blocking the Red Cross & Lebanese Army from reaching them.
They were in a delegate vehicle when a drone strike hit a vehicle behind them, killing two people. Both journalists were trapped at the scene.
Amal contacted the Red Cross before her phone died. Her last message confirmed she was still safe.
Rescue teams still cannot reach the two besieged journalists, Amal al-Khalil & Zeinab Faraj. They are just 500 meters away, but the road has been cut off by an Israeli strike, according to Red Cross paramedics.
This is targeting journalists in real time. This is a crime.
Pure state terrorism against the press.
Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was found dead after hours of searching under rubble. She was killed in an Israeli strike, after the Israeli army fired at ambulances trying to reach her, delaying her rescue.
She is the fourth journalist killed by Israel while in the field since 2 March.
She was a professional, kind and dedicated journalist, and always a pleasure to run into in the field.
🇮🇱🇱🇧Israel's conditions for Lebanon leaked and they amount to a partition plan...
Diplomatic sources told Al-Modon that Israel wants Lebanon divided into three zones:
Zone 1: An 8km buffer strip in the south. Permanent. No return for displaced civilians.
Zone 2: Everything south of the Litani River becomes a military operations area where Israel dismantles Hezbollah infrastructure and disarms it completely.
Israeli forces leave only when they decide they're finished.
Zone 3: North of the Litani and all remaining Lebanon.
The Lebanese Army must fully disarm and dismantle Hezbollah on its own.
Israel won't withdraw from anywhere until Beirut proves it's done.
In other words, Israel occupies the south indefinitely, controls the middle until satisfied, and holds the north hostage to conditions Lebanon's army almost certainly cannot meet.
Hezbollah has been embedded in Lebanese society for 40 years.
Demanding the Lebanese Army dismantle it is like demanding someone perform surgery on themselves.
Today Rubio hosts Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in Washington for the most direct high-level meeting between the two countries since 1993.
These conditions are what Israel walks in with.
The State Department framing: "Israel is at war with Hezbollah, not Lebanon."
The Israeli plan: occupy a third of Lebanon until every last Hezbollah weapon is accounted for.
Those two statements cannot coexist.
Source: Aljadeed, Axios