Israeli Strikes Kill Three, Injure 23 in Southern and Eastern Lebanon

Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon killed at least three people and wounded 23 late Friday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, despite a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The ministry said Israeli strikes targeted five locations across the southern regions of Tyre and Nabatieh, as well as the eastern Bekaa Valley. The toll was later revised from an earlier report by Lebanese state media, which had said two people were killed in the south.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that two young men were killed while riding a motorcycle in Nabatieh. Rescue workers recovered their bodies and took them to a local hospital.

The strike came near the strategically important Ali Al-Taher ridge, which Israel’s military said it had captured. Hezbollah has not confirmed the loss of the position.

Israel announced Thursday that its forces had taken control of the ridge. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would act to “prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area.”

Israeli forces intensified strikes around Nabatieh on Friday and also targeted the village of Rmadiyeh in the Tyre region, more than 10 kilometres from the Israeli border.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 15 wounded in the Rmadiyeh strike, including two children, three women and six rescuers. An emergency services source told AFP that the strike hit a house in the village, which has been sheltering people displaced from other parts of southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah have continued sporadic exchanges of fire since March, when Hezbollah opened attacks against Israel in support of Iran, drawing Lebanon into the wider regional conflict. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground offensive that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Fighting has eased since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement were reached in June, but Lebanese authorities continue to report Israeli strikes.

UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza said Friday that families returning to Nabatieh after the truce were facing “widespread destruction, lack of basic services, ongoing insecurity and uncertainty.”