Lebanese ministry says Israeli strikes kill three and injure 23

Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon killed at least three people and injured 23, Lebanon’s health ministry said, despite a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The ministry said the attacks hit five locations in the southern Tyr and Nabatieh regions and the Bekaa region in the east. It revised an earlier toll from Lebanese state media, which had reported two deaths in the south.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said a strike near the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge hit two young men riding a motorcycle in Nabatieh. Rescuers took their bodies to a local hospital. Israel said on Thursday that its forces had taken control of the ridge. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would work to “prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area.” Hezbollah did not confirm that it had lost the position.

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prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area

Israel also intensified strikes in the Nabatieh region and targeted Rmadiyeh in the Tyr area, more than 10 kilometers from the Israeli border. The health ministry said one person was killed and 15 injured there, including two children, three women and six rescuers. A rescue service source told AFP that the strike hit a house in the village, which is sheltering people displaced from other parts of southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire since March, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran and drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says killed more than 4,300 people. Fighting eased after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement were reached in June, but Beirut continues to report Israeli strikes.

UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza said families returning to Nabatieh after the truce “face widespread destruction, lack of basic services, ongoing insecurity and uncertainty.”

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face widespread destruction, lack of basic services, ongoing insecurity and uncertainty