Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday that achieving a ceasefire is the key first step and necessary foundation for tackling all other pressing issues.
The call came as a previous truce between Israel and Lebanon, which began in mid-April, has all but collapsed. Israeli forces have continued to launch strikes across multiple areas in Lebanon, citing Hezbollah's violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Separately, Lebanese and Israeli military delegations failed to reach a ceasefire agreement during talks held in Washington, D.C. on Friday, according to a report early Saturday by Lebanon's pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV.
Citing an official Lebanese source, al-Mayadeen reported that the Lebanese delegation insisted on an immediate ceasefire, but the request was repeatedly rejected by the Israeli side. The Israeli delegation also refused to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory and demanded the disarmament of Hezbollah.
When visiting Israel's northern border on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the Israeli ground forces had crossed the Litani River, pushing northward and seizing strategic high ground.
Netanyahu said Israeli operations now extend across "the entire front," including the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, in order to strike Hezbollah.
According to Lebanon's National News Agency, the Israeli Defense Forces launched airstrikes on multiple areas in southern Lebanon on Friday, killing 11 people and wounding five others. Hezbollah issued a series of statements claiming multiple attacks on Israeli troops and military vehicles along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operations Center said that between March 2 and May 29, Israeli attacks in Lebanon had killed 3,355 people and wounded 10,095.
Lebanese president urges ceasefire in call with US secretary of state
Many protesters gathered outside the National Diet in Tokyo on Friday to protest against the government's moves to revise constitution and accelerate military expansion.
Holding placards and chanting anti-war, anti-constitutional revision and anti-military expansion slogans, the protesters demanded Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to step down.
Protesters said that recent moves by the Japanese government, such as lifting its ban on lethal arms exports and pushing for the revision of its three security documents, have made them feel worried.
"The Japanese government should not pursue militarism. Instead, it should engage more in promoting peaceful relations -- that is, peaceful diplomacy. The fact that politicians are rushing in that direction for their own short-term interests is very frightening," said a protester.
"My hometown is in Shizuoka Prefecture. By the time I realized what was happening, Japan's Self-Defense Forces had already deployed weapons and missiles there. I really can't accept this. Instead of focusing on weapons, they should concentrate on people's basic needs: food, hospitals, and medical system. When I think about how gasoline, electricity, and gas bills will all go up, I feel anxious about the future," another protester said.
Protesters also said that Japan must face up to history and oppose the Takaichi administration's renewed push for constitutional revision.
"I oppose revising the constitution. [The Japanese government] is trying to erase various aspects of history. I believe the government's current moves are destroying the trust in Japan which has been built up over the years. I oppose constitutional revision," said a third protester.
"We should protect the two provisions of Article 9 of Japan's constitution. But now, Takaichi advocated including the Self-Defense Forces in the constitution. And some policies towards China are quite [unacceptable]. It has been made quite clear that we 'cannot have an army' and that 'we should focus on defense exclusively'. But those moves are no longer 'exclusively defense-oriented'. I feel a strong sense of crisis about this," said one more protester.
Japanese citizens gather in Tokyo to protest against military expansion, constitutional revision
