State News Agency Reports at Least Four Killed in Two Separate Attacks in Southern Lebanon as Israel Claims Targeting Hezbollah Operatives
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has confirmed that at least four people were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, as Israel stated it targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Thursday’s strikes mark the latest in a series of deadly attacks in southern Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah following over a year of hostilities, including two months of open war.
According to a statement from the Health Ministry, reported by the National News Agency (NNA) on Thursday, an “Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people.” The NNA added that an “enemy drone” targeted a vehicle near the town, coinciding with artillery shelling.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military claimed that “several Hezbollah terrorists were identified transferring weapons in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon,” and that the army “struck the terrorists.”
Earlier on Thursday morning, the NNA also reported that “one person was killed and another wounded in the Israeli drone targeting of a car in the town of Maaroub,” also located in southern Lebanon.
Israel has continued to conduct raids in Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire, targeting what it claims are Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement. However, most of the victims have been civilians. Earlier this month, the Health Ministry reported that an Israeli attack in the Yohmor area killed two people, while the Israeli military stated it had struck two Hezbollah operatives.
Escalation in Fighting
Last weekend saw the most intense escalation since the truce, with Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killing eight people. Israel said the raids were in response to rocket fire, the first to hit its territory since the ceasefire.
No group has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said originated north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire agreement. Hezbollah, which has been weakened by the war, denied involvement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah agreed to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. Israel was to withdraw its forces across the United Nations-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but it still maintains five positions in southern Lebanon that it considers “strategic.”
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, stated on Wednesday, “We will not accept the continued [Israeli] occupation. There is no room for normalization or surrender in Lebanon,” during a televised address.
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