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Car strike kills four
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed four people, including a school principal, as the victims were returning after visiting their family home in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry identified the victims as school principal Esperanza Ghandour, her mother, a female domestic worker and a male foreign laborer, and a local source said Ghandour had been checking on repairs at her war-damaged home in Nabatieh.
The Israeli military said it struck a vehicle carrying four people who were approaching what it calls a "security zone" in southern Lebanon and posed a threat to its forces, while Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strike was carried out by a "drone launched a strike with a guided missile".
The BBC described the attack as "the deadliest Israeli attack on Lebanon since latest ceasefire," and it said the fragile calm since then has been accompanied by sporadic strikes that Israel says target Iran-backed Hezbollah violations.
Witnesses, officials, and fear
At Najdeh Hospital in Nabatieh, a health official told Reuters by phone that staff heard the strike before the victims arrived, saying, "We heard the explosion and saw the smoke rising,".
The strike shattered what residents considered safe under the ceasefire, and Ali Safa, 32, said, "It brought the fear back all over again," adding that some reopened businesses closed again and some families left.
Lebanon’s state media reported that, apart from the headteacher, the victims included her mother, a female foreign domestic worker and a male Syrian worker, and it said the three women and the man were returning from visiting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
The BBC reported that Israel’s military said the car had approached a security zone and had been deemed a threat, and it quoted the Israeli military’s explanation: "Following identification, the Israeli Air Force conducted a precise strike in order to remove the threat."
Ceasefire tests and wider damage
The attack came as Israeli drones strikes continued since the ceasefire, but less frequently than before, and the Israeli military said it had established a security zone extending about 10 kilometres into southern Lebanon along the border.
Lebanon says the Israeli presence violates its sovereignty, while the BBC said parts of southern Lebanon remain under Israeli occupation with no timeline for a possible pull out, and it described the ceasefire as fragile even as Israel carried out sporadic strikes.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry figures cited by the BBC put Israeli attacks in Lebanon at "at least 4,319 people" killed since the current round of hostilities began, with "More than 12,203" injured and "more than 1.2 million" displaced, Lebanon says.
Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos told a ministerial meeting that direct material damage from Israel’s war on Lebanon is estimated at between $3 and $4 billion, and he said the preliminary figures "do not include economic losses or indirect damage" as Lebanon discussed ways to support the return of residents and provide proper shelter.
