Lebanon accuses Iran of using the country as a 'bargaining chip' in negotiations with the US

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Friday urged Iran to stop treating his country, where Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah are at war, as a "bargaining chip" in its negotiations with Washington over the Middle East conflict.
"If I may say a few words to Iran, it is this: have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as mere bargaining chips to improve terms of their negotiations", said Salam at a press conference on a UN appeal for help to Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah return to exchange attacks a day after the official announcement of a new truce
Seven people died in Israeli air strikes carried out against the city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, during the night of this Thursday (4), despite the announcement of a truce in the conflict, according to a Lebanese Civil Defense source.
According to the source, one of the attacks occurred near the Jabal Amel Hospital, one of three in the city, and left four dead and seven injured. A bank branch was destroyed and the hospital suffered damage.
The other bombing killed three people and injured five, including two children, in a residential neighborhood.
Destruction in Tyre, in southern Lebanon, after an Israeli attack
REUTERS
In an official statement, the Israeli Army announced attacks against Hezbollah in three locations north of the Litani River, about 40 kilometers from the border, and ordered the evacuation of the local population.
On Wednesday (3), the US State Department announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a ceasefire.
However, on Thursday (4), Israeli attacks killed at least four people in Lebanese territory.
In a statement, also on Thursday, the head of the extremist group Hezbollah rejected the agreement announced in Washington. Naim Qassem said that as long as Lebanese villages are bombed and people are killed, northern Israel will not be safe:
"Negotiations with Israel are shameful. All we care about is a complete ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal from the south. As long as Israel is in Lebanon, the resistance will continue."
Smoke rises from southern Lebanon after an Israeli attack this Friday (5)
REUTERS/Stringer
This Friday, after After the attacks on Tyre, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said he would agree to the group's withdrawal from the south of the country if Israeli troops simultaneously left the territory they occupy.
In written statements distributed by his office, Berri criticized the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, considering it unfair and stating that it should have included an "unconditional ceasefire by land, sea and air".
The attacks Israelis in Lebanon have killed 3,526 people since the conflict began on March 2 and displaced more than a million residents, according to authorities.
On the Israeli side, 27 soldiers and one civilian contractor have died in Lebanon.

Source: G1