BEIRUT – Israel pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs with a series of powerful air strikes early on Nov 1 after issuing evacuation orders to residents in the first such strikes in days targeting the dense urban area.

       The Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities and assets, an assertion it has repeated over the course of dozens of strikes over more than a month in the neighbourhood where the Iran-backed group holds sway.

       The strikes followed a renewed but as yet of fruitless bout of US-led diplomacy aimed at getting a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to stop over a year of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

       US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Oct 31 that Israel and Lebanon were moving toward understandings on what is required for implementing the long-violated UN Resolution 1701 that would be the basis for ending the current conflict.

       But time is running out to get a resolution before the Nov 5 US election, and Lebanese officials and analysts were pessimistic after reports US envoy Amos Hochstein would not be heading to Beirut from Israel, where he was on Oct 31.

       The conflict in Lebanon has dramatically escalated over the past five weeks, with most of the 2,800 deaths reported by the Lebanese health ministry for the past 12 months occurring in that period.

       Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed hope on Oct 30 that a ceasefire deal with Israel would be announced within days as Israel’s public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for an initial 60-day truce. REUTERS