BEIRUT — Lebanese official media said fresh Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Saturday killed several people, less than 24 hours after a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced.
At least 16 people were killed and 12 more wounded after Israeli warplanes, drones, and artillery targeted more than a dozen areas, many around the city of Nabatieh, on Saturday, the Lebanese civil defense has said.
In a post on Facebook, the agency said its personnel had transported those wounded to hospital and evacuated 47 others to safe areas.
Israel carried out a wave of fresh strikes on Lebanon on Saturday morning, despite Israel and Hezbollah having agreed to a ceasefire on Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Israeli warplanes hit Nabatieh al-Fawqa shortly after midnight, before strikes on the town of Arabsalim later in the morning killed three people, NNA said.
Drone strikes on the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Doueir killed another two people, it added.
The Lebanese army named soldier Jameel Nahhal as one of those killed in the attacks on Saturday.
It comes less than a day after US officials said Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had agreed to a renewed ceasefire.
On Friday, Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said “all of Lebanon must burn” after the Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers had been killed in the south of the country.
“For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” Ben-Gvir wrote on social media.
Washington has criticized Israel’s ongoing operations in Lebanon, which was drawn into the US-Iran war when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in March, in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Washington also fears that continued tensions between Israel and Lebanon could undermine the US peace deal with Iran, which includes a commitment to end fighting on “all fronts” including Lebanon. Tehran has insisted that Lebanon must be part of any broader agreement to end the conflict.
US envoy, Steve Witkoff, is reported to be heading to Switzerland for initial talks with Iran to help cement the agreement.
On Saturday morning, footage and photos from southern Lebanon showed several large grey clouds of smoke billowing into the sky, purportedly after Israeli strikes.
Senior Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah said his group had the right to respond to Israeli attacks.
“What concerns us is that the enemy fully and comprehensively respects the ceasefire, and doesn’t attempt to attack our country and villages or seek to occupy any new position,” the state news agency NNA quoted Fadlallah as saying.
Source: Saudi Gazette