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BEIRUT (AP) — Israel's military launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday, unleashing explosions throughout the country and killing at least 12 while Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut as well as in the port city of Tyre. Military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut's southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including meters from a Lebanese police base and the city's largest public park. The barrage came as officials indicated they were nearing agreement on a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet prepared to discuss an offer on the table. Massive explosions lit up Lebanon's skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs Monday. The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets. No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites. Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighborhoods and other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatieh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that at least 12 people were killed in the strikes in the Tyre province, adding to the more than 3,700 people in Lebanon who have been killed since Israel launched its invasion two months ago. Many of those killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah have been civilians , and health officials said some of the recovered bodies were so severely damaged that DNA testing would be required to confirm their identities. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Lebanon's Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people. The latest round of airstrikes came weeks after Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October, meeting heavy resistance in a narrow strip of land along the border. The military had previously exchanged attacks across the border with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group that began firing rockets into Israel the day after the war in Gaza began last year. Lebanese politicians have decried the ongoing airstrikes and said they are impeding U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations. The country's deputy parliament speaker accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment in order to pressure Lebanon to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah. Elias Bousaab, an ally of the militant group, said Monday that the pressure has increased because “we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire.” Israeli officials voiced similar optimism Monday about prospects for a ceasefire. Mike Herzog, the country's ambassador to Washington, earlier in the day told Israeli Army Radio that several points had yet to be finalized. Though any deal would require agreement from the government, Herzog said Israel and Hezbollah were “close to a deal." “It can happen within days,” he said. Israeli officials have said the sides are close to an agreement that would include withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and a pullback of Hezbollah fighters from the Israeli border. But several sticking points remain. Two Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Netanyahu’s security Cabinet had scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, but they said it remained unclear whether the Cabinet would vote to approve the deal. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations. Danny Danon, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, told reporters Monday that he expected a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah to have stages and to be discussed by leaders Monday or Tuesday. Still, he warned, “it’s not going to happen overnight.” After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted that there could be last-minute hitches that either delay or destroy an agreement. "Nothing is done until everything is done," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The proposal under discussion to end the fighting calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. The withdrawals would be accompanied by an influx of thousands more Lebanese army troops, who have been largely sidelined in the war, to patrol the border area along with an existing U.N. peacekeeping force . Western diplomats and Israeli officials said Israel is demanding the right to strike in Lebanon if it believes Hezbollah is violating the terms. The Lebanese government has said that such an arrangement would authorize violations of the country's sovereignty. A ceasefire could mark a step toward ending the regionwide war that ballooned after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250 . The lack of a ceasefire has emerged as a political liability for Israeli leaders including Netanyahu, particularly while 60,000 Israelis remain away from their homes in the country's north after more than a year of cross-border violence. Hezbollah rockets have reached as far south into Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers died fighting in the ground offensive in Lebanon. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest of Iran’s armed proxies , is expected to significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It’s not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition. While the proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.” If the ceasefire talks fail, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said, “it will mean more destruction and more and more animosity and more dehumanization and more hatred and more bitterness.” Speaking at a G7 meeting in Fiuggi, Italy, the last summit of its kind before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office, Safadi said such a failure "will doom the future of the region to more conflict and more killing and more destruction.” Federman reported from Jerusalem and Metz from Rabat, Morocco. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Nicole Winfield in Fiuggi, Italy, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
49ers’ guard Dominick Puni reflects on the one (snap) that got away
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SANTA CLARA — As the 49ers’ season comes to a close amid an avalanche of missed games, Dominick Puni remembers the one that got away. The one snap, that is. It happened with 9:28 to play in the first quarter of an eventual 30-13 win over the New England Patriots in Week 4. Puni took a blow to the stomach on a 1-yard run by Jordan Mason. “I had one snap where I got the wind knocked out of me and they told me to stay down so I missed one snap this year,” Puni said Saturday as the 49ers (6-9) concluded preparations to host the Detroit Lions (13-2). Puni, a rookie third-round draft pick out of Kansas, will be in his usual spot as the starting right guard Monday night as the 49ers close out their home schedule. Jake Brendel will be the center. The rest of the offensive line will be determined at some point before kickoff. Spencer Burford, the third 49ers’ left tackle, was declared out with a calf injury, along with left guard Aaron Banks (knee), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (calf) and defensive end Robert Beal Jr. (ankle). Right tackle Colton McKivitz is listed as questionable but didn’t practice all week with a knee injury. Also questionable were safety Ji’Ayir Brown (ankle), linebacker Tatum Bethune (knee) and cornerback Charvarius Ward (personal matter). Banks is expected to be the 14th player to go on injured reserve, although Bethune is eligible to be activated from I.R. If McKivitz doesn’t play, the 49ers starting line could consist, from left to right, of newcomer Charlie Heck at left tackle, Nick Zakelj at left guard, Brendel at center, Puni at right guard and Austen Pleasants, a recent practice squad promotion who signed on Dec. 17, at right tackle. Coach Kyle Shanahan characterized the challenge of playing mix-and-match this way: “You try to keep it simple for them, try to categorize stuff in groups, and the guys next to them just, they try to communicate as much as possible and you try to help him out,” Shanahan said. Puni, who has established himself as a foundation piece going forward, finds himself possibly being in the unusual position of dispensing advice and wisdom at age 24. “With these tackles, whoever is going to play next to you, you’ve got to tell them some things,” Puni said. “If you just get here you’re not going to know all the tricks of the offense. Other than that, I’m just going try and control my one-eleventh and do my job. It is exciting though.” Puni’s 938 snaps are the most on the team — two more than McKivitz and three more than Brendel. Remarkable when you consider Puni had to nearly avert his eyes during some recent film study of his own practices and game tape when he first arrived as the 86th overall pick of the draft. “I went back to rookie minicamp, the fall camp, the first three training camp practices, just to see how bad I was when I first got here compared to now,” Puni said. “It’s like a night and day difference. When you get here, you don’t know the offense, you don’t know the technique. Yet by the third training camp practice, Puni (6-foot-5, 315 pounds) was the starter. He’s never relinquished the position and health permitting isn’t likely to be out of the lineup for years. “I got a lot of reps with the (first team) and that’s the only reason I was able to do so well early in the year,” Puni said. Puni credits linemates such as McKivitz, Brendel, Banks, Burford and Trent Williams as well as line coach Chris Foerster for helping to bring him along, but it’s clear he’s been a quick learner who wears durability as a badge of honor. While the outside world fixates on who should and shouldn’t play regardless of injury on teams out of the playoffs, Puni’s outlook is appealingly old school. “You don’t ever want to miss a snap,” Puni said. “If you can be out there, you’ve got to play. The last thing I want to do is bring a backup guy in who has been sitting on the sidelines and now he’s got to go in and I don’t think that’s fair. If I can play, I’m going to play.” GUERENDO GOOD TO GO Running back Isaac Guerendo (foot, hamstring) was a full participant in practice and wasn’t given a status after missing the Miami game, meaning the 49ers should get another look at their fourth-round draft pick as a lead back. “It was good to have him back,” Shanahan said. “We had a full speed practice (Friday) and he looked good. So no holdbacks. He’s good to go.” Also good to go is fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who missed the two previous days with an illness. Ward, who lost his 23-month old daughter in October, is awaiting the birth of his son and currently away from the team. KITTLE ON CAMPBELL It’s not difficult to look at 49ers tight end George Kittle and hard-nosed Detroit coach Dan Campbell as kindred spirits. Kittle likes what he’s seen of Campbell from afar. “When you have a head coach who played, and the way he played was gritty and kind of nasty but beloved by all his teammates, it’s easy to play for a guy like that,” Kittle said. “He seems like a really easy guy to play for, makes them grind and earn every second, but you want people like that who hold you to a standard. It’s awesome to see the Lions have gotten to that. but it’s our job to take them down a little bit.” WATTERS, BOLDIN MISS HOF CUT Former 49ers running back Ricky Watters (1991-94) and wide receiver Anquan Boldin (2013-15) did not make the cut to the round of 15 to be considered for induction for the Class of 2025 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shanahan spent a lot of time around the 49ers when his father was offensive coordinator and Watters turned into a game-changer in both the pass game and run game. “I was only in middle school, so I can’t act like I really knew strategically what was going on,” Shanahan said. “But he was a really cool player. I loved talking to him and hanging out with him up in Rocklin at training camp.” Mike Holmgren, a San Francisco native who was a 49ers assistant from 1986 to 1991 as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, is a coach finalist. — Staff writer Cam Inman contributed to this report
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