Beirut [Lebanon], March 25: Lebanon has withdrawn accreditation from the Iranian ambassador and declared him persona non grata, demanding his departure from Lebanon Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
The ministry also summoned the Lebanese ambassador to Iran for consultations, citing what it described as Tehran's violation of diplomatic norms and practices between the two countries.
The decision comes as the Israeli army continues to attack Lebanon with air strikes and pushes forward with a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2, in response to the US-Israel killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Lebanese authorities say at least 1,072 people have since been killed and 2,966 injured in Israeli attacks. More than 1.5 million Lebanese people have been displaced as Israel has ordered people to evacuate from the country's southern region.
Citing the Lebanese Health Ministry, Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr said on Tuesday that at least three people were killed in targeted assassinations overnight in Beirut.
"The Israeli military said it targeted members of the Quds Force, the foreign unit of Iran's IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]. This is not the first time the Israeli army has claimed to target the IRGC in Lebanon," she said.
"Iran did acknowledge that four Iranians were killed in a targeted strike at a hotel in the early days of the conflict. But they said they were civilians." The latest Israeli war comes as many of the more than one million people displaced during the 2023-24 war are not able to return to their homes in Lebanon.
Source: Qatar Tribune