Lebanon president seeks U.S. help as Israeli strikes continue

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun appealed to Washington and the international community after Israeli strikes killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon, despite a truce and a framework deal intended to halt the violence.

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a dangerous escalation... reaching Lebanese state institutions

Aoun described the attacks as “a dangerous escalation... reaching Lebanese state institutions” after strikes damaged government premises and destroyed the out-of-service Ghandour hospital. He urged the international community, particularly the United States, to act urgently to stop what he called violations. Washington has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the two sides in June.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported two deaths in Nabatieh al-Fawqa and the deaths of two women in nearby Arab Salim. It said 20 other people, including several women and three children, were wounded in those areas, the city of Nabatieh and the town of Kfar Rumman. The ministry later said another strike on a parking lot near Nabatieh killed three more people.

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to urgently act to stop these violations

Israel said its forces struck Hezbollah operatives and sites, including weapons storage facilities, structures it described as terrorist infrastructure and a command centre established inside a building formerly used as a hospital. Israel said the strikes responded to a drone attack by the Iran-backed group on its troops near a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon. It reported no casualties and called the drone attack a “blatant violation.”

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blatant violation

The Israeli military issued its first evacuation warning in Lebanon in a month, telling residents near a building in Arab Salim that it identified as a Hezbollah facility to leave before an attack. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said another house was destroyed after the warning, killing two women, before the threatened building was struck. Israel has also said it captured the Ali al-Taher ridge near Nabatieh, which it considers part of its self-declared security zone. Hezbollah has not commented on that claim.

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another grave violation of international humanitarian law