By Arsalan Shahla, Magdalena del Valle, and Alisa Odenheimer
Bloomberg News
Lebanon saw its deadliest day of fighting in months, (click here) heaping pressure on stalled U.S.- Iran negotiations while Washington preps fresh sanctions.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday that it killed Abu Hassan Alaa, a senior Hezbollah commander, in southern Lebanon a day earlier. A total of 11 people died in the Israeli strikes, making them the deadliest since the sides agreed to a ceasefire at the beginning of June.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack injuring three soldiers on Saturday. Israel said on Sunday it would strike the Iranian proxy group again if threatened.
The fighting on the periphery of the Iran war may further complicate what appear to be deadlocked negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The sides are poised to arrive at the formal end of their own ceasefire agreement on Monday with no apparent path forward on the Strait of Hormuz and with the U.S. readying an “economic isolation” plan to pressure Iran’s capitulation....
