Israel has the right to respond to rockets from Lebanon: Ortagus

Morgan Ortagus, deputy to the U.S. president’s special envoy for Middle East peace, urged Lebanese authorities Friday to stop blaming Israel for strikes on Lebanon and to prevent rocket fire into Israel. She is set to visit Beirut next week.

“I respect President Joseph Aoun, who is even a friend, but we disagree on this. Lebanon must take responsibility and stop the rocket fire,” she told Al-Arabiya.

Asked about Israeli cease-fire violations following Aoun’s remarks in Paris, Ortagus was firm: “Israel is not violating the cease-fire. When rockets are fired from Lebanon, that is a violation, and we should expect a response.”

In Paris, Aoun condemned Friday’s Israeli strike on Hadath as a “continuous cease-fire violation” and urged the international community to pressure Israel to comply with the agreement, as Lebanon has.

Ortagus called on Lebanon’s president, government, and army to “intensify efforts” to halt rocket launches instead of blaming Israel. She also said Lebanon is not comparable to Gaza, which is “led by terrorist groups,” emphasizing that Lebanon has a government, a president, and an army, and that the U.S. is working to support its authorities.

Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday — the first such strike since the cease-fire began four months ago. Hezbollah opened a front against Israel when the Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023. Clashes escalated into open war in September 2024, killing more than 4,000 in Lebanon and displacing over a million. Since Israel’s partial withdrawal from southern Lebanon on Feb. 15, it has continued to carry out near-daily strikes.