Israeli airstrikes hit multiple locations across southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported, even as a Middle East peace deal that includes Lebanon is supposed to be in effect.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, Israeli warplanes carried out raids on the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area and struck the eastern outskirts of the nearby town of Kfar Tebnit.
NNA also reported that Israel conducted a drone strike on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area.
The reported attacks come after a rare public rebuke from US Donald Trump of Israel’s military tactics in Lebanon while targeting Hezbollah militants, saying it was unnecessary to bring down entire apartment buildings in pursuit of fighters.
Mr Trump, who in recent days had voiced displeasure over Israeli strikes in Beirut that he said could have jeopardised his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been battling Hezbollah — the Iran-aligned Lebanese militia — for “too long”.
“Too many people have been killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Mr Trump said at the G7 summit in France yesterday.
His remarks land amid growing strain with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a leader who has remained a key political ally despite periodic friction between the two over the years.
In recent weeks, that friction has become harder to miss.
Israeli officials have been quietly voicing frustration over the Iran deal the Republican president reached, while Mr Trump has been increasingly irritated by Israeli strikes in Beirut — attacks that he said helped trigger Iranian retaliation at the very moment he was working to finalise the peace deal.
Mr Trump said he has a “great relationship” with Mr Netanyahu, but also argued the prime minister should be “more responsible” with Lebanon.
Smoke rises at a site targeted by Israeli artillery in the southern village of Kfar Tibnit
“Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”
The two leaders have repeatedly clashed over Israel’s refusal to limit its pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a cessation of hostilities is described as a key Iranian demand.
US presidents, including Mr Trump, have typically been reluctant to openly criticise Israel’s battlefield methods.
Not long after Mr Trump delivered the comments, an official White House social media account that typically shares clips of his public remarks posted a video highlighting those specific statements.
The White House did not explain why the official account chose to post the clip of Mr Trump’s remarks, but said the president maintains a strong relationship with Mr Netanyahu and described the Israel Defence Forces as “incredible partners”.
“There has been no greater friend to Israel and a fighter for peace than President Trump…Americans and our allies around the world are already safer for the United States and Israel’s bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said.
There is no indication that Mr Trump’s comments would translate into meaningful policy that would force Israel to reconsider its military tactics in a way that would ensure greater protection for civilians.
Israel has faced sharp criticism from other countries, particularly over its assault on Gaza that has killed 73,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel says it never targets non-combatants and says militant groups such as Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah regularly use civilians as human shields.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington did not have any comment for this story.
