The state news agency reports at least four people have been killed in two separate attacks in the country’s south as Israel says it targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has said that at least four people have been killed in two separate Israeli strikes in south Lebanon, as Israel claimed it struck Hezbollah operatives.
Thursday’s strikes were the latest in a series of deadly attacks in south Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after more than a year of hostilities, including two months of open war.
An “Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people”, said a Health Ministry statement reported by the National News Agency (NNA) on Thursday.
The NNA said an “enemy drone” targeted a vehicle near the town, in a strike that came at the same time as artillery shelling.
Elsewhere, the Israeli military said in a statement that “several Hezbollah terrorists were identified transferring weapons in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon”, adding that the army “struck the terrorists”.
On Thursday morning, the NNA also reported that “one person was killed and another wounded in the Israeli drone targeting … of a car in the town [of] Maaroub”, also in south Lebanon.
Israel has continued to carry out raids in Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire, striking what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement. But most of the victims have been civilians.
Earlier this month, the Health Ministry said an Israeli attack killed two people in the Yohmor area, as the Israeli military said it struck two Hezbollah operatives.
Ramp up in fighting
Last weekend saw the most intense escalation since the truce, with Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killing eight people.
Israel said those raids were in response to rocket fire, the first to hit its territory since the ceasefire.
No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said originated north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah, which has been weakened by the war, denied involvement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah agreed to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Israeli border and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel was to withdraw its forces across the United Nations-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but still holds five positions in south Lebanon that it deems “strategic”.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday: “We will not accept the continued [Israeli] occupation.
“There is no room for normalisation or surrender in Lebanon,” he said in a televised address.