Israel Airstrikes Kill 13 State Security Service Members in Nabatieh District

Israel carried out airstrikes across southern Lebanon, including strikes on the town of Zefta and another near Zuotr in the Nabatieh District, and an airstrike on the town of Tibnin and the city of Bint Jbeil, according to a correspondent for Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath.

The same report said an airstrike targeted the town of Al-Qantara in the Marjeyoun District and hit the town of Al-Mansouri in the Tyre District, while Israeli fighter jets pierced the sound barrier over several areas of Lebanon.

ABC News

The report also said thirteen members of the State Security Service were killed, after Israeli strikes had targeted the Government Palace in Nabatieh and the latest official toll put the death toll at 13 members of the State Security Service.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli air raids on Beirut and other areas last Wednesday rose to 357, and that the total toll of the war between Israel and Hezbollah is approaching two thousand, according to the same source.

In parallel, the Lebanese presidency said a meeting would be held with Israel in Washington next Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, and the start date of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under American auspices, the report added.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army issued fresh evacuation orders, with Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) attributing deaths to air raids in al-Namiriya and al-Duweir.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tyre, Obaida Hitto, said, “These attacks are very violent, and they are targeting places that are filled with many people, homes and communities,” and added that many of these places are not near the front line.

Akhbar Al-Ghad

The same Al Jazeera report said Israel’s army spokesperson issued 16 evacuation orders in southern Lebanon, and that local sources said Israel was striking before and after the order was given.

Hezbollah said it carried out attacks on Israeli military infrastructure and military positions throughout the day, including targeting Israeli soldiers stationed in a house in the Biyyada area of the South Governorate with a drone.

Naim Qassem, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, called upon the Lebanese government to “reverse the decisions it has taken to criminalise the resistance,” while also saying US sanctions against nine people linked to Hezbollah “will only strengthen our resolve,” according to remarks reported by NNA.

The Guardian said Israeli strikes hit southern and eastern Lebanon on Sunday despite signs that US and Iran were close to a peace deal, and it cited Lebanon’s health ministry saying a Saturday raid in Sir al-Gharbiyeh “resulted in a massacre whose final toll is 11 dead including a child and six women, and nine wounded including four children and a woman”.

The Guardian also reported that Israel continued to strike what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire that began on 17 April and was recently extended for several weeks, while Hezbollah maintained attacks on Israeli targets in southern Lebanon and across the border.

It added that Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli strikes on several locations in southern and eastern Lebanon on Sunday, and that some raids came before the Israeli military issued two evacuation warnings covering more than a dozen villages in Lebanon’s south and in the eastern Bekaa valley.

Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah lawmaker put under US sanctions this week, said on Sunday that “major transformations are taking place in the region”, and Iran “has made its agreement with the United States conditional on stopping the war in Lebanon,” according to a statement.

The Guardian further reported that the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accused Hezbollah of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos,” and said Hezbollah was “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction.”