Lebanon Endures Threats, Diplomacy and Whiplash as Others Decide Its Fate

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : Hezbollah signaled it was open to a new truce, as the cease-fire with Israel that took effect in April was unraveling.
46% : In Nabatieh, a southern city for which Israel issued a new evacuation warning on Tuesday, most of the few people who remained there were sheltering in the main public hospital, residents said.
44% : But some were not convinced that Israel's promise not to target Beirut would hold.
41% : More than 3,200 Lebanese and at least 30 Israelis have been killed in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to the authorities in both countries.
40% : " Iran and Hezbollah's indirect appeals to Mr. Trump on Monday to push for a new cease-fire also highlighted a surprising reality that has emerged since the war broke out: A durable truce in Lebanon would benefit both the president and Hezbollah -- unlikely partners -- while his ally in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu, would stand to lose.
40% : Hezbollah could show that only it and its patron Iran -- and not the Lebanese state -- has the leverage to pressure Israel through Washington into halting the war.
40% : But Israel would emerge after months of fighting in Lebanon with little to show for it.
39% : Nowhere was that dynamic more evident than in Dahiya, the densely-packed Beirut suburb where thousands of residents caught in the cross hairs of Israel, the United States, Iran and Hezbollah made life-or-death decisions to stay or flee after Mr. Netanyahu issued his threat to attack.
36% : Mr. Netanyahu also backed away from his threat against Beirut but insisted Israel would continue fighting in southern Lebanon.
36% : By Tuesday morning, the situation in the country was largely back to the way it was only two days earlier: Israel was bombing the south of the country, Hezbollah was attacking Israeli forces in Lebanon, and the cease-fire was being largely ignored.
31% : The previous day began with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatening to bomb Beirut's southern suburbs, sending thousands fleeing and putting the Lebanese capital on edge.
22% : President Trump intervened, announcing that Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia based in Lebanon, had agreed to stop attacking each other and suggesting that a major assault on Beirut had been averted.
20% : The latest war broke out in March after Hezbollah began firing at Israel in solidarity with Iran, days after the United States and Israel attacked Tehran in late February.

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