Israeli Drone Strikes Near Beirut Kill Four, Airstrikes Kill At Least 13 In Southern Lebanon

Three Israeli drone strikes on vehicles just south of Beirut on Saturday killed four people, while a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, state media and the Health Ministry said.

“Israeli drone strikes near Beirut kill 4 and southern airstrikes kill at least 13 Three Israeli drone strikes on vehicles south of Beirut have killed four people BEIRUT -- Three Israeli drone strikes on vehicles just south of Beirut on Saturday killed four people while a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, state media and the Health Ministry said”

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The three drone strikes south of Beirut marked another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on April 17, with both sides continuing daily attacks despite the truce.

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Two of the Saturday strikes took place on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon, while the third happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region, the state-run National News Agency said.

The Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven, including a child, and wounded 15, and it described the count as initial.

In Nabatiyeh, the Health Ministry said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter, after the man and daughter were attacked again and the girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.

The Ministry of Public Health denounced the strikes, saying, "The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon," and it added that the strike marks an ongoing series of "grave violations of International Humanitarian Law."

In the same account, the Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon, adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks.

Akhbar Al-Ghad

The Health Ministry’s account of the Nabatiyeh motorcycle attack described how the man and his daughter managed to move away only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man.

The New Arab reported that the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for nine villages in southern Lebanon on Saturday as it continued deadly strikes despite a truce, and it said the United States would facilitate talks between the two countries next week.

The New Arab also said Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Lebanese government needed to be strengthened to extend its sovereignty over all of Lebanon and have exclusive control over all arms, while adding that the US will not engage in any talks with Hezbollah.

The Reuters-linked timeline described a ceasefire declared in Washington that went into effect on April 17 and was later extended by three weeks, while a new round of talks was scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting Thursday.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held talks in Damascus with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, and Salam told reporters before heading back home that Lebanon will not be used again to harm "our Arab brothers, on top of them Syria."

The New Arab said Lebanese and Israeli delegations will meet again at the US State Department on 14 and 15 May in a new round of direct, preliminary discussions aimed at putting an end to the decades-long conflict.

The New Arab also reported that around a million people have been forcibly displaced from much of the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and it said more than 2,700 people have been killed.

Today’s L’Orient Today account described southern Lebanon under intense Israeli attacks during a "cease-fire" in which Israel does not cease to fire, and it said three drone strikes on cars in the Chouf region occurred about twenty kilometers south of Beirut less than an hour apart.