By admin 
Israel has continued to attack Lebanon with airstrikes, claiming all its targets are legitimate Hezbollah facilities and militants. The latest series of attacks took place on Thursday.
Several major airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of the day, including a location adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) had previously issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying there were Hezbollah facilities at the site, but provided no further details. Locals say such facilities did not exist in the area.
“These are people’s private property. May God help the people. It’s just damage for damage’s sake,” said Hassan Jaafil, a resident.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from these attacks, and the airport was not directly targeted. National carrier Middle East Airlines has continued to operate commercial flights.
Later in the day, an Israeli drone strike hit a car at an army checkpoint in the southern port city of Sidon, killing three people and wounding seven others, including U.N. peacekeepers.
The Lebanese Army said the injured included three Lebanese soldiers and four Malaysian UN peacekeepers who were passing through the area. There was no immediate information about the identities of the dead.
Another drone strike hit a car on a highway just outside Beirut early Thursday, killing one woman, according to local media.
UNESCO heritage sites in danger
On the same day, about 100 members of the Lebanese parliament sent an “urgent message” to UNESCO, calling for the protection of the country’s heritage sites.
The announcement by lawmakers came after the Israeli air force recently hit areas close to archaeological sites in several parts of Lebanon, including the northeastern city of Baalbek and the southern port city of Tyre.
“During the devastating war against Lebanon, Israel committed serious atrocities and human rights violations,” lawmaker Najat Saliba said in the message addressed to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay. She read out the statement, signed by more than a hundred lawmakers, at the parliament building in Beirut, in the presence of some of her colleagues.
Saliba urged Azoulay to protect historical sites in Lebanon, especially in Baalbek, Tire and other “valuable areas facing great danger due to increasing atrocities.”
On Wednesday, a local official said an Israeli airstrike had landed “dangerously close” to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roman ruins of Baalbek, a revered heritage site with some of the largest and best-preserved Roman temples outside Rome.
In recent weeks, the Israeli Air Force carried out air strikes near the Tire Hippodrome, which is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
France sees Trump as a possible solution
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said during his visit to Jerusalem that conditions were “ripe for progress in the coming weeks towards a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.” Here Barrot met his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz.
Speaking at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Barrot pointed out that the election of Donald Trump as US president could contribute to a peaceful solution. “He (Trump) has never made a secret of his desire to end the endless wars in the Middle East,” Barrot said.
Barrot also pushed for an agreement that “allows the release of all hostages, establishes a ceasefire and allows the access of substantial humanitarian aid to Gaza and prepares for the day after.”
“The Palestinian issue will not go away regardless of which US administration is in charge,” he added.
At least 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,500 injured in Lebanon since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah broke out in 2023, the Health Ministry said.