Lebanon accused Iran of using it as a “bargaining chip” with the United States and urged it to stop “interfering” in the country

Lebanon was drawn into the war in the Middle East on March 2 – sparked by the Israeli and US attacks on Iran on February 28 – when Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity for the death of the Iranian supreme leader.

“It’s not your country, it’s ours (…) They have no reason to interfere in our country“Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stating that The people of Lebanon were “fed up” with the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

He also called on Israel to “show some will (…) to end this war.” “We are prepared (…) And you?” Aoun said in CNN.

The head of state faces the Hezbollah’s reluctance to the ceasefire and of a part of the population since the beginning of Lebanon’s direct negotiations with Israelfor the first time in decades. The two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations.

Aoun also accused Iran to stop using his country as “bargaining chip” in talks with the United States to end the war in the Middle East. “They are not trying to help us… the Lebanese people are paying the price… for the benefit of their own interests,” the Lebanese leader said, adding: “Our interests… do not coincide with theirs.”

Iran requires that any agreement with Washington include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and the end of Israel’s hostilities with Hezbollah – very close to the Islamic Republic.

The president of Parliament, Nabih Berri, who acts as an intermediary with Hezbollah, mentioned for the first time the possibility of the Shiite group evacuating the south of the country if Israel withdraws from Lebanon and if a “comprehensive and unconditional” ceasefire is reached.

On the ground, a Israeli bombing in the Nabatiyé district of southern Lebanoncaused five deaths, including a woman and a paramedic, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The Israeli army also carried out an attack at the entrance to Tire. Bombings on this ancient city, one of which slightly damaged the Jabal Amel hospital, caused seven deaths during the night, he told the AFP a source of civil defense. The hospital had already been hit earlier in the week.

“My house in the village was destroyed, my house in Tire too, we have nothing left but the clothes we are wearing,” he told the AFP Marwan Ghorayeb, a security forces retiree.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli troops They occupy a part of the south of the country, but not against the north of Israel.

The Israeli army indicated, however, on Friday night that alarm sirens had sounded in towns in northern Israel after surface-to-air missiles targeted a military plane, which was not damaged. A spokesperson told the AFP that the plane was in southern Lebanon.

Although the ceasefire agreement foresees, in this phase, the maintenance of firing and operations of the Israeli army, the head of HezbollahNaim Qasem, assured on Thursday that there would be “no security” for northern Israel “without security for the villages” of southern Lebanon.

Los Israeli bombings on Lebanon have caused more than 3,560 deaths since the beginning of the conflict, that is, more than 30 additional in 24 hours, according to a new balance from the authorities.

On the Israeli side, 27 soldiers and one civilian contractor have lost their lives in Lebanon.