By Rami Ayyub and Maya Gebeily
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, May 29 (Reuters) – Israeli forces have advanced to positions north of Lebanon’s Litani River, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, as Israel escalates attacks against Hezbollah militants after warning thousands more Lebanese to flee their villages.
The Israeli advance came as the U.S. military hosted Israeli and Lebanese defence representatives in Washington on Friday to pursue a U.S.-brokered plan to forge peace between the two countries and disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Washington talks also aim to reinforce an April 16 ceasefire that has failed to halt cross-border fighting, with Israeli warplanes pounding Lebanon’s south and east and Hezbollah firing drones and rockets into Israel.
The military said this week it had expanded ground operations beyond a security zone its troops have occupied since April 16. During a visit to the Israel-Lebanon border on Friday, Netanyahu said troops had pushed even further, past the Litani River that cuts east-west around 30 km (19 miles) into southern Lebanon.
“Our forces have crossed the Litani and advanced to controlling positions,” Netanyahu said in remarks to military personnel, according to excerpts released by his office.
“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa (Valley), across the entire width of the front, and are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow.”
LEBANESE SECURITY SOURCES SAY ISRAELI TROOPS CROSSED LITANI THEN RETREATED
The Israeli conflict in Lebanon has been the most deadly spillover of the Iran war, with more than 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since March 2, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of ally Tehran.
Since then, Israeli strikes have pummeled Lebanon’s south, east and its capital Beirut, killing more than 3,200 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel says 23 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.
Early in the fighting, Israel ordered people south of the Litani River to flee. On Thursday, the military ordered people south of the Zahrani River — which lies around 10 km north of the Litani — to flee as well, declaring the area a combat zone.
Commenting on advances by Israeli ground forces, Lebanese security sources said Israeli troops had crossed the Litani near the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah on Thursday but retreated to the southern bank of the river later in the day.
Ground forces crossed back over the Litani again on Friday, the sources said, saying it wasn’t a major advance and that it took place at an eastern point on the Litani that sits close to the Israeli border.
Speaking with troops in Israel’s northern command on Friday, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said troops would continue pursuing what he described as Hezbollah “launch squads” and their operators and commanders at every level.
“Wherever we identify a threat, we will strike it,” he said, according to remarks released by the military.
ISRAEL, LEBANON HOLD SECURITY TALKS AT PENTAGON
In Washington, Israeli and Lebanese military officials were meeting at the Pentagon to discuss implementation of the ceasefire, which the two sides agreed on May 15 to extend by 45 days. The talks were expected to have begun at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT).
An Israeli source briefed on the talks said Israel and Lebanon were not expected to discuss the question of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold where Israel says it has largely held off attacks due to U.S. pressure.
A U.S. official said the talks at the Pentagon were moving ahead as scheduled, adding: “The only path to lasting peace is through direct negotiations between the two sovereign governments.”
Israel and Lebanon agreed to split their U.S.-mediated talks into diplomatic and security tracks. Diplomatic meetings are expected to be held next week at the State Department.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; additional reporting by Eman Abouhassira; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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