BEIRUT, AUG 15 (AP): 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.
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 criticised Israel’s airstrikes on southern Lebanon, saying they intimidate “residents in their homes” and undermine efforts to stabilise 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.”