9 killed, 11 hurt in Israeli strikes on southern towns as Israel says Hezbollah acted against troops in Ali al-Taher
Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike in the country's south on Saturday killed seven people, including three children and two women, in the worst toll since deals in June saw a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Two people were killed and nine others were wounded in another Israeli airstrike on a two-story building in the southern town of Deir al-Zahrani later on Saturday.
The Israeli army meanwhile said that the Ansar airstrike and other heavy attacks in the Nabatieh region came in response to Hezbollah action against Israeli troops in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.
The Israeli 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.
Media reports said Israeli soldiers were evacuated from the area in helicopters.
The National News Agency (NNA) said Israel "escalated its attacks on the south" early Saturday, 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 U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding in June on the broader Middle East war, followed by a U.S.-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 Saturday.
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 U.S.-sponsored negotiations in Rome early next month.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Sheikh 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 Defense 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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".
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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