People inspect a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike on the village of Ansar, southern Lebanon, Saturday. At least 11 people were killed and several others injured in the strike. Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA
Aug. 15 (UPI) — Two Israeli strikes hit Lebanon and killed at least 11 people early Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, then struck another site killing four more.
Health ministry officials said an overnight strike in Ansar, near the city of Nabatieh, killed seven people, including three children. A few hours later, Israeli planes attacked Deir al-Zahrani, killing at least four and injuring 17. Ansar is about 43 miles south of Beirut.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the Ansar attacks targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that Hezbollah first struck and seriously injured three Israeli soldiers.
“This morning, Hezbollah violated the cease-fire in Lebanon by attacking our soldiers in the security zone, which protects Israeli communities just across the border. The Hezbollah attack seriously injured three of our soldiers. The [Israeli military] responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters that ordered the attack.”
The Israeli military spokesperson’s unit said in a statement that civilians were also unintentionally killed in the strike. It said that the strike killed several “Hezbollah terrorists,” including Ali Samir Al-Haj Hblockan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force unit. But the military acknowledged that, at the time of the strike, Hblockan’s family was with him.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the escalation “extremely dangerous” and said it undermined efforts to establish stability in southern Lebanon.
“The seven martyrs in the Israeli strike on Ansar town were not ‘military infrastructure,’ and the children and women killed were not military targets,” Nawaf said on Facebook. “The responsibility of dealing with any military building, if found on Lebanese lands, is the responsibility of the Lebanese state exclusively, through the Lebanese army and its legitimate institutions, and its presence does not give Israel the right to swamp the Lebanese lands or to endanger civilians. Israel must stop this escalation. The security of our people and their right to life on their land is not negotiable. “
Later on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it hit “headquarters which ordered the attack” on Israel, and only later learned “that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound.” Four people were killed, and five were injured.
Israel and Lebanon signed a cease-fire on June 26. Hezbollah rejected the truce, and some strikes have continued.
In a Friday speech that was televised, Hezbollah leader Naim Qblockem condemned the strikes. He said they show that negotiation with Israel is futile.
“These negotiations will bring nothing but shame and disgrace,” Qblockem said.
