Newsletters
Israeli militarylaunched a series of airstrikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon on Saturday, wounding seven people and setting fire to residential areas in what Lebanese officials described as a continuing military campaign despite a US-brokered withdrawal agreement.
Three strikes hit the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district, injuring seven people, according to Lebanon's National News Agency. Israeli militaryalso detonated homes in Houla, in the Nabatieh district, while a separate drone strike targeted the town of Kfar Tebnit.
In Khiam, a border town in the south, Israeli troops set fires that spread through what remained of homes across several neighborhoods, with thick plumes of smoke rising from multiple locations as militarycarried out sustained machine-gun fire across the area.
The strikes came roughly a month after Lebanon and Israel signed a US-sponsored framework agreement providing for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, a deal that has yet to halt Israeli military activity on the ground.
Since March 2, more than 4,300 people have been killed and over 12,200 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israeli military continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, including areas held for extended periods and others seized during the 2023-2024 war, in which Israeli troops advanced more than 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory.
Southern Lebanon has long been a flashpoint in the broader Israeli-Lebanese conflict. Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fought a major war in 2006, and the region along the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated boundary between the two countries, has remained heavily militarized in the years since.
The US-sponsored framework, signed last month, was designed to establish a phased Israeli pullback, a structure that echoes previous diplomatic arrangements brokered after Israeli-Lebanese flare-ups.
However, Israeli military have continued operations in southern towns, and Saturday's strikes demonstrated that the agreement has not translated into a halt in military activity.
Lebanon and Israel have no formal peace treaty and remain technically in a state of war, with direct negotiations historically conducted through third-party intermediaries such as the United States and the United Nations.
Alongside the airstrikes, Israeli militarycarried out demolitions of residential structures in Houla, continuing a pattern of property destruction documented in southern Lebanese villages during the current offensive.
In Khiam, the fires and machine-gun fire reported by the National News Agency pointed to ongoing ground-level military operations well inside Lebanese territory.
The Lebanese government and international observers have repeatedly called for full Israeli compliance with the withdrawal framework, but the timeline and enforcement mechanisms of the agreement remain unclear.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
