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Israel strikes Beirut suburb as US puts forth Lebanon truce proposal

Israel has this week stepped up air strikes in southern suburbs, an escalation that has coincided with indications of movement in US-led diplomatic contacts towards ending Israel's war in Lebanon.

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A senior diplomat, speaking anonymously, assessed that more time was needed to get a ceasefire done. / Photo: AA

An Israeli air strike flattened a building near one of Beirut's busiest traffic junctions, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment.

One of several air strikes on Friday morning, the attack struck near the Tayouneh junction in the southern suburbs of the city, a more central target than most that Israel has hit.

On Thursday, the US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters without providing details.

The draft was Washington's first written proposal to halt fighting between its ally Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in at least several weeks, the sources said.

"It is a draft to get observations from the Lebanese side," one of the sources told Reuters. When asked about the proposal, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Beirut said: "Efforts to reach a diplomatic deal are ongoing."

A senior diplomat, speaking anonymously, assessed that more time was needed to get a ceasefire done and was hopeful it could be achieved.

Israel's war in Lebanon leaves children with deep physical, emotional scars

An early foreign policy win

The diplomacy marks a last-ditch attempt by the outgoing US administration to secure a Lebanon ceasefire, as efforts to end the brutal war in Gaza appear adrift.

Senior Iranian official Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, met Berri and Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Friday, Lebanese and Iranian media reported.

Ahead of the latest air strikes, the Israeli military issued a warning on social media identifying buildings in the southern suburbs and forcing residents to evacuate.

The sound of an incoming missile could be heard in footage showing the air strike near Tayouneh. The targeted building turned into a cloud of rubble and debris which billowed into the adjacent Horsh Beirut, the city's main park.

On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel's energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, told Reuters that prospects for a ceasefire were the most promising since the conflict began.

The Washington Post reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to US president-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to be strongly pro-Israel.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,386 people through Wednesday since October 7, 2023, the vast majority of them since late September.