Israel Strikes Southern Lebanon, Issues Evacuation Warnings for Nine Villages

Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun and prime minister Nawaf Salam criticized Iran on Friday after Iran opposed the latest ceasefire deal between the Lebanese government and Israel, with Aoun telling CNN, “It’s not your job to interfere into our country. I reject the statement totally because our people (are) being killed, our houses being destroyed.”

“DIBBINE, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s president and prime minister criticized Iran on Friday for opposing the latest ceasefire deal between the Lebanese government and Israel, saying their country should not be used by Tehran as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington”

ABC27

As the diplomatic dispute played out, the Israeli military struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one sheltering thousands of people displaced by the three-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.

ABC27

The strikes killed nine people in six locations in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported, while the Siasat Daily reported six people killed in the same Friday June 4 strikes.

The U.S. brokered the ceasefire agreement Wednesday in Washington, and the deal sought to pull Lebanon away from Iran with a statement that any agreement to cease hostilities must be reached directly through Lebanon and Israel “and not through any separate track.”

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally acting as a mediator, said in his first comments since the agreement was announced that the ceasefire should be “complete and comprehensive” without any exceptions for land, sea or air, and “without bulldozing and demolishing everything that exists.”

The Siasat Daily added that Berri said he accepts Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the areas south of the Litani River as long as it coincides with the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

L'Orient Today

In parallel, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued a statement Thursday vowing that “there will be no calm in the region” if Israel doesn’t withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

The Siasat Daily also said the war in Lebanon threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while the fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

In the Saida district, L’Orient Today reported that from Saturday night into Sunday morning Israeli attacks intensified, including threats directed at residents of Maghdoucheh, about 40 kilometers from the Israeli border.

“Dibbine: Israel’s air force struck different parts of southern Lebanon on Friday, June 4, as the military issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that had been spared much of the destruction and was sheltering thousands of people displaced by the three-month war”

The Siasat Daily

The outlet said residents, the village mokhtar and members of the municipal council received a threat from the Israeli army warning that the village would be bombed if they allowed Hezbollah members to enter, while drones conducted continuous flyovers over Saida and Maghdoucheh beginning at 2 a.m.

L’Orient Today reported fierce clashes at the southeastern entrance to Mayfadoun as Israeli forces positioned in Zawtar al-Sharqieh attempted to advance toward the outskirts of the village, and Hezbollah claimed it thwarted the advance by firing salvos of rockets at the advancing vehicles.

The same report said Israeli airstrikes targeted multiple villages in the Nabatieh, Sour, Jezzine, and Bint Jbeil districts, and it specified that the strike on Deir Kifa killed one person while a drone targeted a motorcycle in Zifta, killing two people.