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Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed 11 people, including three children, in the deadliest attack since a ceasefire deal in June eased hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese authorities said Saturday.
The strikes hit the village of Ansar and the town of Deir Zahrani, both roughly 20 kilometres from the border, an area Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said had not been struck at that depth since the truce took hold two months ago. Israel's military said the raids targeted "Hezbollah terror infrastructure" in retaliation for an attack by the group on Israeli troops stationed in the Ali al-Taher ridge area, inside what it described as an agreed security zone extending about 10 kilometres into Lebanon.
The violence comes just weeks before Israel and Lebanon are due to hold an eighth round of US-sponsored direct negotiations in Rome, and threatens to complicate a framework agreement reached by the two sides in Washington in June.
Lebanon's health ministry said seven people, including three children and two women, were killed in the strike on a home in Ansar, where President Joseph Aoun said "an entire family" had died. Four more people were killed and 17 wounded, among them a child and 11 women, in a separate strike on Deir Zahrani, the ministry said, revising an earlier death toll of two in that town.
An AFP correspondent in Ansar described a destroyed building with rescuers searching through rubble, next to a swimming pool clouded grey with dust and debris. Abbas Khalil, 60, said he had been praying when the strike hit. "We were shocked... There's no justification for this," he said. Nearby, Mohammed Saab, who said he relied on renting out his property each summer, asked: "What do I have here for this to happen?"
In Deir Zahrani, the correspondent reported extensive damage and heavy traffic toward the city of Sidon as residents fled north with belongings packed into their cars.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said those killed in Ansar "are not 'military infrastructure' and the women and children who were killed are not military targets," calling on Israel to halt what he termed an "extremely dangerous" escalation. Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, urged the sponsors of the ceasefire and negotiations to "bear their responsibility... before it's too late."
President Aoun said the strikes sent "a clear message on the negotiations process and American efforts aiming to implement this agreement."
Hezbollah condemned the attacks as "targeting civilians and expanding the areas targeted" and said they reflected a desire by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to escalate the war in order to strengthen his domestic political position." The group said the strikes "will be met with an appropriate response" and called on Lebanese authorities to abandon what it called "the humiliating path of direct negotiations."
Israel's military, in a follow-up statement, said Hezbollah had "attacked our forces inside the agreed security zone," calling it "a serious violation of the agreement."
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war in March, firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Iran. Israel answered with sustained airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.
Violence eased following a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader regional war in June and the Israel-Lebanon framework deal reached later that month, though Lebanon has continued to report sporadic Israeli strikes and the demolition of civilian buildings across southern towns and villages.
The framework agreement calls for Hezbollah's disarmament, a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, beginning with designated "pilot zones."
On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of pressuring the country's armed forces to carry out the deal.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon this week and pledged to keep troops in the "security zone." A US State Department official, however, said "a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework."
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