Israeli Airstrikes Kill At Least Nine In Southern Lebanon As Hezbollah Fires Rockets

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least nine people on Wednesday, authorities said, as Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. Lebanon’s health ministry said the dead included two paramedics whose ambulance was hit in the southern Chehour area, and it also said a car was struck just south of Beirut.

The BBC said Israel’s military intercepted a drone and two projectiles that crossed the border, while Hezbollah said it targeted a gathering of Israeli troops. The BBC also placed the incident within a fragile ceasefire framework, saying the incidents tested a partial ceasefire agreed on Monday, under which Lebanon said Israel would refrain from bombing Beirut in exchange for Hezbollah not attacking Israel.

Al Jazeera

The AP described a separate wave of violence the day before, saying Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 11 people, including a man along with his son and daughter, according to the state-run news agency. The AP added that Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles and drones toward Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and Israeli cities and towns in recent days, and that Hezbollah did not carry out any attacks on Israel after Trump’s announcement.

In Washington, Israeli and Lebanese diplomats held a second day of talks on Wednesday to discuss ways to shore up the partial ceasefire, the BBC reported, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped they would produce "an action plan on a track for security in [Lebanon], independent from Hezbollah".

The BBC said the Iran-backed Hezbollah later framed its rocket barrage as retaliation, saying it targeted "a gathering of Israeli enemy army soldiers" in northern Israel with a rocket barrage in response to what it called the Israeli enemy army's violation of the ceasefire. The AP reported that negotiations to extend a ceasefire are a sticking point, with Lebanese negotiators seeking a full ceasefire in Washington and Hezbollah rejecting direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.

Al Jazeera

The AP also quoted Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying, "Negotiations is the least costly option on Lebanon and the Lebanese people," and described his view that it is "the shortest road to the occupation and allow our people in the south to return to the cities and villages." Separately, the AP reported that Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel previously refrained from attacking Beirut out of deference to negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, but added that Netanyahu told Trump Israel will attack Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah continues targeting northern Israel.

Lebanon’s health ministry figures cited by the BBC put the broader toll at at least 3,516 people killed in Lebanon since the start of the war, and it said the figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The BBC also said the UN reported more than one million people have registered themselves as displaced in Lebanon, where Israeli evacuation orders cover more than an eighth of the country.

The BBC further said the ministry accused the Israeli military of "demonstrating contempt for international humanitarian law" by directly targeting an ambulance in the Chehour area, and it added that at least 128 paramedics and healthcare workers have been killed in Israeli attacks on ambulances and medical facilities over the past three months. In the same reporting, the BBC said the Lebanese army denounced what it called "a pattern of deliberate strikes targeting army personnel, vehicles and positions" by Israeli forces.

The Le Nouvel Obs account described the human pressure on the ground, saying nearly a million people have been driven from their homes as Israeli bombardments multiply dangerously in Lebanon and that Saint Anthony the Great Church in Beirut was overflowing on March 10. It also described families from Alma el-Chaab being evacuated under escort by UNIFIL armored vehicles, with some sheltering for more than a week in the church basement and swearing not to leave their village.