Lebanon says Israeli military seized municipal councillor, worker

BEIRUT: Israeli forces seized a municipal councillor and a worker in Kfarshuba, southern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported, as Israel pursued its strikes on the country.

Asked by AFP in Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

“An Israeli patrol took away Kfarshuba municipal council member Mohammad Hassan al-Hajj and worker Ahmad Salah Diab, taking them to an unknown location,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

“The two men were working to pump water to the town of Kfarshuba when the Israeli patrol stopped them and took them away,” it said.

Sunni-majority Kfarshuba is among a few, mostly Christian southern villages whose residents chose to stay throughout the Israel-Hezbollah war despite Israeli orders to evacuate.

On Tuesday, the association of Christian border villages in southern Lebanon issued a statement urging the Lebanese government to “immediately open safe humanitarian and medical corridors to ensure the access of citizens, aid, and medical and relief teams to the affected and isolated villages”.

They pointed to “a dangerous decline in health services due to the disruption or closure of a number of health centres and clinics,” especially since most of the roads leading to their villages are now “cut off or extremely dangerous”, hindering the delivery of services and aid.

The incident comes a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people in and around the southern city of Tyre, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The Israeli military carried out a series of strikes across the south on Wednesday, according to the NNA.

It also issued evacuation warnings for three southern Lebanese towns.

The NNA also reported overnight strikes on Nabatieh, one of the south’s largest cities that is now largely deserted.

The city is close to areas the Israeli military recently pushed into, including the medieval-era Beaufort castle which overlooks the district.

Hezbollah meanwhile said it targeted Israeli troops in the area.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since March have killed more than 3,600 and displaced more than one million others.

On the Israeli side, 29 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Lebanon, according to the army.

Israel has failed to honor the ceasefire that was initially declared in mid-April.