Israel intensified its airstrikes against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday as the United States and Iran near a possible peace agreement.
It remains to be seen whether such a deal ends the Israel-Hezbollah conflict through a strict ceasefire.
A ceasefire has been in effect since last month, but both the Israeli military and Hezbollah have repeatedly exchanged blows in that time frame. This month, both Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend the ceasefire by another 45 days to allow space for peace talks. Israeli and Lebanese officials are meeting at the Pentagon on Friday to discuss the state of the ceasefire.
The intensified airstrikes come hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to uproot Hezbollah from Lebanon.
“We are at war with Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said in a video message, noting more than 600 militants have been eliminated so far.
“We are not taking our foot off the gas,” he added. “On the contrary, I said to step on the gas even more. We will strike them.”
On Monday, the Israeli military said over 70 Hezbollah infrastructure sites for launching munitions from Lebanon were destroyed. Additionally, about 10 command centers, weapons storage facilities, and infrastructure sites were struck, and Hezbollah militants using motorcycles were killed.
Over the weekend, the U.S. signaled that it had made progress in a tentative agreement with Iran to end the fighting nearly three months after it began. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the terms are “largely negotiated” but that no breakthroughs have occurred yet.
Earlier Monday, he announced Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan should sign the Abraham Accords as part of a deal to end the Iran war. Dating back to 2020, the landmark agreement is designed to establish relations between Israel and the Arab nations. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are two of six Gulf States that are signatories of the accords.
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Trump said Iran was also invited to sign the accords but that the Islamic Republic is unlikely to add its name to it.
Iranian officials were negotiating in Qatar as Israel launched more airstrikes in Lebanon.