Deadly Israeli airstrikes tore into southern Lebanon before dawn Saturday, killing 11 people — including three children — in what Lebanese officials described as the most lethal raids since June agreements helped cool months of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel’s military said the early-morning strikes were launched in response to an attack by the Iran-backed militant group targeting its troops in south Lebanon.
The attacks came as Israel and Lebanon were preparing for an eighth round of US-sponsored direct negotiations, scheduled for early next month in Rome.
The sides reached a framework deal during talks in Washington in June, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Saturday’s “violations are a clear message on the negotiations process and American efforts aiming to implement this agreement”.
Hezbollah warned the Israeli strikes “will be met with an appropriate response”, and called on Lebanese authorities to abandon “the humiliating path of direct negotiations”.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel “escalated its attacks on the south” early Saturday, citing an airstrike on a home in the village of Ansar and a “series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge”, a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area.
It later reported another strike on the southern town of Deir Zahrani.
Lebanon’s health ministry said seven people were killed in Ansar “including three children and two women,” with Aoun saying “an entire family” had died there.
The ministry said four other people were killed in Deir Zahrani and 17 others wounded — including a child and 11 women — revising an earlier toll of two dead.
The National News Agency said the strike destroyed the home
In Ansar, an AFP correspondent saw a building reduced to rubble as rescuers searched through the wreckage, while a nearby swimming pool had turned cloudy and grey under dust and debris.
Abbas Khalil, 60, said he was praying when the blast hit.
“We were shocked… There’s no justification for this,” he told AFP.
The Israeli army said it targeted “Hezbollah terror infrastructure in the areas of Nabatieh and Ansar” after Hezbollah took “action” against Israeli soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.
It later said Hezbollah had “attacked our forces inside the agreed security zone” — a band of territory about 10km deep inside Lebanon where Israeli forces are operating — calling it “a serious violation of the agreement”.
In Deir Zahrani, an AFP correspondent described extensive destruction and heavy traffic heading toward the city of Sidon, as some residents drove north in cars packed with belongings.
The NNA said one strike near Ansar marked “the first at this geographical depth since the ceasefire two months ago”.
Ansar and Deir Zahrani are both around 20 kilometres from the border.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said those killed in Ansar “are not ‘military infrastructure’ and the women and children who were killed are not military targets”, urging Israel to stop what he called an “extremely dangerous” escalation.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said the raids were a warning “to the sponsors of the negotiations and the ceasefire agreements to bear their responsibility… before it’s too late”.
Negotiations
Hezbollah said the widening strikes — “targeting civilians and expanding the areas targeted” — showed a desire by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to escalate the war in order to strengthen his domestic political position”.
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 fallen since the US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader Middle East war in June, followed by the Israel-Lebanon framework deal later that month.
Still, Lebanon continues to report intermittent Israeli strikes and widespread demolitions of civilian buildings across southern villages and towns.
In Ansar, beside the dust-darkened pool, Mohammed Saab said he typically waits each year to rent his property during the summer.
“What do I have here for this to happen?” he said, stunned.
The Israel-Lebanon framework deal calls for Hezbollah to disarm, for Israeli forces to withdraw gradually from south Lebanon, and for the Lebanese army to deploy into the area, beginning in “pilot zones”.
Yesterday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of putting unfair pressure on the country’s armed forces by moving ahead with the deal.
Also this week, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon and pledged to keep troops in the “security zone”.
But a US State Department official said “a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework”.
