First aid responders and residents gather as they search the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in the southern Lebanese village of Deir al-Zahrani on Saturday.ABBAS FAKIH/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said one of the airstrikes that targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.
Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon, in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. It also envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the two countries – which technically remain in a state of war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.
Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.
Prime minister says Israeli strikes undermine efforts at stability
Debris littered the southern Lebanese village of Ansar on Saturday after an Israeli dawn air strike killed nine people, according to Lebanon's state news agency.
Reuters
Saturday’s strikes are the deadliest since the truce went into effect two months ago. On July 6, four people were killed in strikes on the town of Nabatiyeh Fawqa.
On June 19, a day before the truce went into effect, Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 83 and wounded 141, according to the health ministry.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Israel’s airstrikes on southern Lebanon, saying they intimidate “residents in their homes” and undermine efforts to stabilize the situation in the south.
“The seven martyrs of the Israeli airstrike on the town of Ansar are not military infrastructure, and the children and women killed were not military targets,” Salam said in comments posted on X. He added that it is the job of the Lebanese state to deal with any military infrastructure in the country.
“Israel must halt this escalation,” Salam said. He added that the security of the Lebanese people and their right to life on their land “are not subject to negotiation or bargaining.”
President Joseph Aoun said in comments released by his office that the strikes are “a clear message to the negotiation track and to the American efforts aimed at implementing this agreement.”
Israel says it was responding to action against its soldiers
Intense Israeli airstrikes early Saturday also hit the strategic Ali Taher hill, which overlooks parts of the southern city of Nabatiyeh and main roads leading to it, NNA reported. Despite the truce, Israel’s military has continued its almost daily attacks on the area, which is north of the Litani River and has been a de facto boundary in Lebanon, with large areas to the south under Israeli military control.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Ali Taher and Ansar in response to an action against Israeli soldiers in the area. The military added that it will not allow the Hezbollah to harm Israeli civilians or soldiers “and will continue to operate to remove threats.”
A Hezbollah official did not immediately respond when asked for comment on whether they carried out any attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah later called on the Lebanese state to find ways to halt “this aggression” rather than going after U.S.-sponsored direct talks with Israel, as it will be giving “free gifts for the enemy despite the crimes and aggression it is carrying out.”
“The American side is a partner of the Israeli enemy in its crimes and massacres,” Hezbollah added in the statement. The group said that Israel must clearly understand that “its acts of aggression, violations and attempts to impose a fait accompli cannot continue” and they will be met with an appropriate response by Hezbollah.
Earlier this month, two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon, the first Israeli deaths since the shaky truce. Hezbollah did not comment on the blast.
Lebanon and Israel have held seven rounds of talks; the most recent took place in Rome earlier this month.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has refused to disarm and accuses the Lebanese government of making too many concessions without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran. More than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since then, including hundreds of civilians. About 40 soldiers and three civilians – including a military contractor – have been killed on the Israeli side.