DistantNews
🇱🇧 Lebanon /Conflict & Security

At least 9 killed as Israel pounds Lebanon despite truce

From Naharnet · (34m ago) English Critical tone

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Israel conducted intense strikes across southern Lebanon and near Beirut on Saturday, killing at least nine people, including a child.
  • The attacks occurred despite a three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has failed to halt daily exchanges of fire.
  • Hezbollah responded by targeting Israeli troops with drones, while Israel claimed to have struck numerous Hezbollah infrastructure sites.

In a stark violation of the fragile truce, Israel unleashed a wave of intense airstrikes across southern Lebanon and even targeted a highway near Beirut on Saturday. The relentless bombardment resulted in the deaths of at least nine civilians, including a young girl, and left many more wounded. This escalation underscores the ineffectiveness of the three-week-old ceasefire, which has done little to quell the daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

resulted in an initial toll of seven martyrs, including a girl, and 15 wounded, including three children.

— Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA)Reporting the casualties from an Israeli strike on Saksakiyeh.

The Israeli military claimed its forces struck Hezbollah infrastructure and "terrorists" in response to drone attacks. However, the civilian toll, particularly the repeated targeting of a family in Nabatieh, raises grave concerns. Reports from Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) detail how a Syrian national and his 12-year-old daughter were killed in one strike, only for a drone to target the girl again as she was being moved, resulting in her death. Another strike in Bedias killed one person and wounded 13, including children and women.

After they managed to move away from the site of the first strike, the drone attacked a second time... the drone then targeted the girl 'directly for a third time'.

— Lebanon's health ministryDescribing the repeated targeting of a girl in Nabatieh.

Hezbollah, in turn, announced it had targeted Israeli troops with drones in retaliation. The group's lawmaker, Hassan Fadlallah, warned of a "new phase" in the conflict. These events highlight the volatile situation on the border, where civilian lives remain perilously caught in the crossfire. While international attention often focuses on the broader geopolitical implications, for the communities in southern Lebanon, these strikes represent a devastating reality of loss and fear, a reality often underreported in Western media which may focus more on the military exchanges than the human cost.

one person was killed in an Israeli strike and 13 wounded, including six children and two women.

— Lebanon's health ministryReporting casualties from an Israeli strike in the southern town of Bedias.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Naharnet. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog