At least nine people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Lebanon’s state news agency, in some of the deadliest attacks since Beirut agreed to a US-mediated framework aimed at ending the latest round of fighting.
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Seven people were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a house in the southern village of Ansar, while two others died in a separate strike on Deir El Zahrani, the National News Agency reported.
Eleven people were also injured in the attacks.
The agency said three children and two women were among those killed in Ansar.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strike and rejected Israel’s blockertion that it had been targeting military sites.
“The martyrs of the Israeli raid on the village of Ansar are not ‘military infrastructure’ and the women and children killed in it are not military targets,” Salam wrote on X.
Israel’s military said it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it described as a security zone in southern Lebanon, saying the action came in response to activity directed against Israeli soldiers.
Israel strikes south Lebanon despite truce announced with Hezbollah
Fragile framework under pressure
The strikes come weeks after Lebanon agreed to a US-mediated peace framework with Israel intended to bring the latest conflict under control.
Under the arrangement, Israeli forces remain in areas they occupy in southern Lebanon while Hezbollah is disarmed and the Lebanese army gradually blockumes responsibility for security there.
Hezbollah has rejected those terms, portraying them as an unacceptable concession to Israel.
In a speech on Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qblockem sharply criticised the agreement.
“The framework agreement … is an Israeli order written in Israeli ink that the Lebanese authorities have signed onto,” he said.
The dispute over Hezbollah’s weapons remains one of the biggest obstacles to implementing the deal.
Israel says it will not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon until the Iran-backed group has been disarmed, while Hezbollah insists it will not surrender its weapons under pressure.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reiterated that position during a visit to southern Lebanon on Thursday, saying Israeli troops would remain in areas under their control until Hezbollah had been disarmed.
A US State Department official, however, said a permanent Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon would not be consistent with the commitments set out in the agreement reached with the Lebanese government.
Lebanon reports strikes on south as Israel issues broad evacuation warnings
Conflict leaves heavy toll
Israel seized a swathe of southern Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah earlier this year.
The conflict erupted after Hezbollah fired on Israel two days after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran, drawing Lebanon into a broader regional confrontation.
Israel has said its continuing military presence in southern Lebanon is necessary to prevent further attacks on communities in northern Israel.
Lebanon, meanwhile, has repeatedly called for Israeli forces to withdraw and for the country’s sovereignty to be restored across the south.
Saturday’s strikes underline the fragility of the current arrangement and the difficulties facing efforts to turn the framework into a lasting ceasefire.
Despite the political push to stabilise the border, Israeli attacks and clashes have continued, while disagreements over Hezbollah’s disarmament and the timetable for an Israeli withdrawal remain unresolved.
At least 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest round of hostilities began on 2 March.
(with newswires)