Israel presses assault on Lebanon border town

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – Israeli troops launched an attack to seize a key south Lebanon town ​from Hezbollah fighters holed up inside on Monday, pressing the war on the Iran-backed group on the eve of historic talks between Israeli and ‌Lebanese government envoys.
With the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States set to meet on Tuesday in Washington, Lebanon’s foreign minister said Beirut would use face-to-face negotiations to press for a ceasefire in the war that has complicated wider diplomacy to halt the conflict in the Middle East.
But the outlook for the meeting — a rare, face-to-face encounter between countries formally in a state ​of war — has been overshadowed, with Israel saying it won’t discuss a ceasefire while Hezbollah has objected to negotiations with Israel, reflecting sharply worsening ​political tensions in Lebanon.
On the ground in south Lebanon, the Israeli military completed its encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil ⁠just over the border and had begun a ground assault there, an Israeli military spokesperson and Lebanese security sources said.
The Lebanese sources said Hezbollah fighters holed up ​inside were ready to fight to the death, citing the strategic and symbolic significance of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold, provincial capital, and gateway to surrounding villages.
An Israeli military official said full operational control of Bint Jbeil would be achieved within days, and that only a small number of militants remained in the area.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli forces in and around Bint Jbeil with rockets, artillery fire and suicide drones.
A foreign security official based in Lebanon said seizing Bint Jbeil would give ​Israel better control over the entirety of Lebanon’s southeastern border strip, leaving the western area of the border zone, which is largely forest and harder to clear.
Hezbollah ​opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, igniting an Israeli offensive that Lebanese authorities say has killed more than 2,000 people and forced more than 1 ‌million people ⁠from their homes.