Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon have killed at least 11 people, marking the deadliest attacks since a truce with Hezbollah began in June BEIRUT -- Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on June 20. Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency said an airstrike 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 envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the two countries — which remain technically at war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment. Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.
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. He added that it is the job of the Lebanese state to deal with any military infrastructure in the country. 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.” 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 near-daily attacks in the area north of the Litani River, 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 office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah violated the ceasefire by attacking Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon, seriously wounding three of them.
It said the Israeli military responded by striking the Hezbollah headquarters which ordered the attack, learning only later that Hezbollah “deliberately put civilians” in that military compound. The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying the strike on Ansar killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, whom it described as a battalion commander with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force unit. The military said Haj Hassan’s family was with him and was harmed, but emphasized that the family was not targeted.
Hezbollah supporters posted photographs on social media of Haj Hassan, his wife, three sons and one daughter, and said they were all killed in the strike. 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 called on the Lebanese state to find ways to halt “this aggression” rather than pursuing U.S.-sponsored direct talks with Israel, arguing that would be “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.
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