Israeli military operations persist in southern Syria and Lebanon despite diplomatic efforts led by the United States to end the hostilities.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces shelled a strategic hilltop near the town of Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside, according to witnesses. Syria’s Alikhbariah TV also reported that soldiers raided and searched a house in the village of Taranja in the Quneitra countryside.

Al Jazeera’s Amr al-Halabi, reporting from Damascus, noted that the shelling of the Bat al-Warda hill near Beit Jinn occurred amid repeated Israeli attacks on the town in recent months.

These strikes followed talks in Jordan where Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad al-Shaibani met with Israeli intelligence officials in discussions mediated by the United States. Damascus described the talks as an attempt to end ongoing Israeli "attacks, arrests and targeting operations" inside Syria.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces launched air attacks on the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district late Wednesday, and earlier targeted the town of Sarbine in the Bint Jbeil district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

An armed group stated that its actions were in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the US-Israel war on Iran, as well as to near-daily Israeli violations of a previous ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported by Kabalan to be "trying to escalate in more than one place" ahead of the country's general election in October, aiming to gain support particularly among right-wing and far-right voters.

These developments raise questions about the US commitment to pressuring Israel to halt its military strikes in the region.

Sources