Deadly strikes shake fragile ceasefire

At least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The attacks are among the deadliest since the country agreed to a US-mediated peace framework with Israel, raising concerns about the durability of the truce.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that seven people were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a house in the southern village of Ansar, including three children and two women. Four others were killed in a strike on the village of Deir El Zahrani. NNA said a total of 19 people were wounded in the attacks.

NNA also reported other airstrikes across southern Lebanon, including on a strategic area north of the Litani River known as Ali al-Taher hill. One strike, targeting a valley next to Ansar, was described as the deepest into Lebanon in two months.

Competing accounts of the strikes

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it calls a security zone in southern Lebanon, in response to actions against its soldiers there. In a statement, the military said it killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force unit, and others when it struck a central headquarters of the unit in Ansar. The military added that Hassan's family was also present inside the headquarters and was harmed in the strike, but that the family was not the target.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire and attacking Israeli soldiers, leading to three injuries. "The IDF responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack," the statement on X said. "Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound."

Hezbollah, in a statement, said the attacks would be "met with what they deserve," signaling a threat of retaliation.

In a separate account, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described an earlier strike on a building in the security zone that sheltered several suspected radicals. The IDF said soldiers identified several suspects who crossed into the Security Zone in the Baraashit area, entered a structure, and posed a threat to IDF soldiers. "Following the identification, the IDF carried out a strike on the structure," it said. The IDF stressed that it "will not allow the Hezbollah terrorist organization to harm the civilians of Israel and its soldiers," and that it "continues to remain committed to the agreement between Israel and Lebanon."

Political reactions in Lebanon and Israel

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks, writing on X: "The martyrs of the Israeli raid on the village of Ansar are not 'military infrastructure' and the women and children killed in it are not military targets."

Nabih Berri, speaker of Lebanon's parliament and a Hezbollah ally, called for national unity and urged the sponsors of the peace talks and ceasefire agreements to "assume responsibility for stopping the war before it was too late," according to a statement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X that the attacks were a "clear message" aimed at the negotiations and US efforts towards implementing the framework agreement.

In Israel, Defence Minister Israel Katz said during a visit to southern Lebanon on Thursday that Israel would not withdraw from areas under its control until Hezbollah was disarmed. A US State Department official, however, said a permanent Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon was not consistent with commitments set out in the deal. Doron Spielman, international spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, told Reuters that Saturday's strikes would "tighten up" negotiations.

The peace framework leaves Israeli troops inside southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed and the Lebanese army takes control, terms the group has rejected as surrender. Israel's military seized a swathe of southern Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah earlier this year, which was triggered after the group fired at Israel two days into the Iran war.

At least 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest round of hostilities since March 2, according to figures cited by the Lebanese health ministry.

Perspectives

  • Government of Israel / IDF: Defends the strikes as necessary responses to Hezbollah threats and ceasefire violations, emphasizing that civilians were unintentionally harmed and that Hezbollah deliberately placed civilians in military compounds.
  • Government of Lebanon / Hezbollah and allies: Condemns the strikes as targeting civilians and not military infrastructure, calling for national unity and international intervention to stop the conflict.
  • US State Department: Expresses that a permanent Israeli military presence in Lebanon would be inconsistent with the terms of the deal.