Israel strikes south Lebanon day after ceasefire extension

BEIRUT: Israel launched new airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday, a day after the two countries agreed to extend a truce following talks in Washington.

“The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in several areas in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on at least five villages in the south, preceded by an exodus of residents towards the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut.

The Israeli military had earlier warned residents of nine villages in the Sidon and Nabatieh regions to evacuate ahead of the strikes.

On Friday, an Israeli strike hit a center of the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Hanuf, authorities said. Six people were killed, including three paramedics, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The latest strikes come after envoys from Israel and Lebanon held negotiations in Washington following the first direct talks in decades last month between the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations.

Iran-backed Hezbollah opposes the negotiations and has continued to claim attacks on northern Israel and against the Israeli military in southern Lebanon, part of which it has occupied, since the ceasefire took effect on April 17.

 ‘Real occupation’

In other Israeli strikes which targeted the southern city of Tyre on Friday, 37 people were wounded in a residential area.

An AFP correspondent saw significant destruction at the targeted site near the coastal city’s ancient ruins.

“They destroyed the entire neighbourhood,” said Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who was wounded in the leg.

“They are emptying the south of its population… it’s a real occupation. We want a solution.”

Despite the fresh strikes, Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed the 45-day extension of the truce with Israel.

“The extension of the ceasefire and the establishment of a US-facilitated security track provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability,” it said in a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency.

Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including more than 400 since the truce took effect, according to Lebanese authorities.

The military has also reported the deaths of 19 soldiers in southern Lebanon since fighting with Hezbollah erupted.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Syed Ali Khamenei.

On Friday evening, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Shia movement.

“Enough of these irresponsible adventures that serve foreign interests,” he said.