Lebanon state media says Israeli strike on south kills 7

BEIRUT - Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike in the country’s south on Aug 15 killed seven people, the worst toll since deals in June saw a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

The National News Agency (NNA) said Israel “escalated its attacks on the south” early on Aug 15, reporting that “a strike launched by enemy warplanes on a home” on the outskirts of the village of Ansar “killed seven people and wounded three others”.

It also said “Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge”, a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area, also reporting Israeli shelling there.

Israel’s military has previously said that Hezbollah fighters were hiding out in “underground terror infrastructure” in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.

The NNA said “the valley between Ansar and Zarariyeh was also subjected to a strike, the first at this geographical depth since the ceasefire two months ago”.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Violence has significantly decreased since the signing of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June on the broader Middle East war, followed by a US-sponsored framework deal between Lebanon and Israel later that month.

But Lebanon still reports intermittent Israeli strikes, occasionally causing casualties, and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

‘Humiliation’

The NNA also said Israeli forces detonated homes in the town of Bint Jbeil near the border early on Aug 15.

The Israel-Lebanon framework deal includes the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in “pilot zones”.

Israel and Lebanon are to hold an eighth round of US-sponsored negotiations in Rome early next month.

On Aug 14, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of subjecting the country’s armed forces to undue pressure by implementing the deal.

“How can you accept this ongoing humiliation of the Lebanese army, exposing it to bombardment and Israeli pressures, instead of acting as its protectors?“ Qassem said.

Earlier this week, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon, vowing to keep troops in a so-called “security zone” there and saying the Israeli military was “destroying the underground infrastructure” and “destroying all the houses” in the area.

When asked about Katz’s remarks, a US State Department official told AFP that “a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework”.

Also this week, Lebanon said President Joseph Aoun and army chief Rodolphe Haykal met visiting US General Joseph Clearfield, who heads a coordination group involved with the Israel-Lebanon agreement, to discuss arrangements regarding the deal.

Human Rights Watch meanwhile urged the United Nations to keep an international force in Lebanon after its peacekeepers’ mandate ends this year, calling the troops “a crucial deterrent against attacks on civilians and human rights abuses”. AFP