Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon, killing 13 people including women and children, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday, in an intensification of violence after a weeks-long lull.
Israel’s military vowed to continue targeting Hezbollah, accusing the Iran-backed militants of repeated violations of a ceasefire in place since June.
Hezbollah has not commented on the threat, or on the escalation in strikes seen in recent days.
Israel hit swathes of south Lebanon hard during the Middle East war that erupted with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and its forces continue to occupy what it calls a “security zone”.
One of the overnight strikes hit a building in the town of Kfar Rumman, killing 11 people, including two children and four women.
Another attack in the same town killed a rescuer and wounded another, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
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A later strike on Rihan, also in the south but further from the border with Israel, killed one person, while a strike on the city of Nabatieh wounded nine including two children and three women.
Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.
The Israeli military in a statement said it had struck Hezbollah “infrastructure sites” across southern Lebanonafter the launch of two explosive drones towards its troops, as well as “several terrorists” it said were transferring weapons.
The army said it “will continue to operate to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement”.
In a separate statement, it said it killed a Hezbollah member in the area of the Beaufort fortress who opened fire on its troops from inside a building, and that “during the close-quarters encounter, two IDF soldiers were lightly injured”.
School books in the rubble
Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
On Monday, Israel’s foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of “repeated drone attacks” and “attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon”.
The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.
The rescuer who was killed was just 18 years old, according to his civil defence organisation which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.
An AFP photographer saw the building that was hit in Kfar Rumman had been destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.
Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning for other victims.
Villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.
“Since we returned here, we’ve lived in fear,” Fouad Chakaron told AFP.
He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by “peaceful people with no connection to anyone”.
Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP’s photographer said.
The NNA later reported additional strikes on the Nabatieh area, and controlled detonations of unexploded munitions in at least two parts of the south.
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‘I couldn’t believe it’
Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate attack in nearby Deir Zahrani.
The Israeli military said in an Arabic-language message that it was targeting a “Hezbollah terrorist facility”, warning that those who remained in the area were at risk.
“They called me at 2:00 am and told me to get out of the house because it is being targeted,” resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP, referring to the Israeli army.
“I said that’s impossible, why is my house being targeted? There’s nothing in it. I couldn’t believe it.”
He said he took his wife, children and elderly mother outside in their pyjamas and they stood on the street watching their house be destroyed.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed seven people. Attacks on Friday killed four.
The Israeli army has said it is responding to Hezbollah’s launch of two drones towards its soldiers inside Lebanon, but did not specify whether any of its troops were wounded.
Hezbollah has not claimed any attack since June 20.
Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared “security zone” around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
