Expressing gratitude for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s peace initiatives, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday sought Pakistan’s support in securing an immediate end to the Israeli attacks targeting Lebanon and its people.
According to the PM Office, PM Shehbaz held a telephonic conversation with the Lebanese prime minister, during which he strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing aggression against Lebanon and expressed grief over the loss of thousands of precious lives.
During the call, the premier stated that Pakistan remains sincerely engaged in efforts to bolster regional peace. He highlighted that, in line with this commitment, peace negotiations between Iran and the United States are currently being hosted.
Both leaders agreed to remain in close contact to monitor the evolving situation.
In a statement issued by the Lebanese PM’s office, Salam asked his Pakistani counterpart on Thursday to confirm Lebanon’s inclusion in the Iran war ceasefire, a day after Israeli strikes on the country killed more than 200 people.
Salam’s office said he phoned Shehbaz, praising Islamabad’s efforts in securing the truce and asking him to “confirm that the ceasefire includes Lebanon to prevent a recurrence of the Israeli attacks witnessed yesterday”.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he is seeking direct talks with Beirut, a day after the worst bombardment of the war killed more than 300 people in Lebanon and placed Donald Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire in jeopardy.
Trump announced a ceasefire in the six-week-old Iran conflict late on Tuesday, just hours before a deadline after which he threatened to destroy Iran’s entire civilisation.
Netanyahu, whose government rebuffed a historic offer for direct talks with Lebanon last month, said in a statement that he had given instructions to start peace talks as soon as possible, which would also include disarming Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah.
“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct ?negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” he said. “The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”
An hour before Netanyahu’s statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was working on a diplomatic track on this matter that was starting to be seen “positively” by international actors.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had spent the last day pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, describing the effort as a “separate track but the same model” as the US-Iran truce.
Israel was preparing to scale down its attacks in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. Another Israeli official said talks with Lebanon were expected to begin in Washington next week.
Under a November 2024 US-brokered ceasefire accord that halted more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon agreed that only state security forces should bear arms, which means Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.
But a bid the following year by the Lebanese army to disarm the group fell short, Israel said.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel kept up its bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs and other parts of the country, Lebanese state media said.
It also expanded evacuation orders for areas on Beirut’s outskirts to areas near Beirut airport and several displacement shelters.
Hezbollah announced at least 20 military operations on Thursday, saying it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory as well as firing into northern Israel.
Lebanese officials declared a day of mourning after Wednesday’s attacks on heavily populated areas, which they described as a “massacre”.
Outside Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, a steady stream of ambulances arrived throughout Thursday afternoon full of mangled bodies recovered from the sites of Israeli strikes the previous day.
“We’re picking up body parts for the most part. It’s very ?rare that we find entire bodies intact,” said a rescue worker on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
One woman, between tears, told Reuters she had lost her entire family in one of the strikes.