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Weekend strikes in south
The Israeli military said an airstrike killed senior Hezbollah commander Abu Hassan Alaa in the Deir al-Zahrani area in southern Lebanon late on Saturday, describing the attack as "a response" to an earlier Hezbollah drone strike that wounded three soldiers.
“described the attack as "a response" to an earlier Hezbollah drone strike”
Lebanese media reported at least four people were killed in the Deir al-Zahrani strike, while Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes struck a two-story building, killing at least four people and wounding five.
The same reporting said seven people were killed in heavy Israeli airstrikes on the southern village of Ansar, described as one of the deadliest Israeli attacks since a ceasefire was reached in 2024.
In parallel, Haaretz reported a sharp escalation in southern Lebanon over the weekend that left three IDF soldiers seriously wounded and 11 Lebanese killed, including a local Hezbollah commander, and said the Americans requested clarifications from Israel.
The clashes and strikes were reported around the Ali al-Taher Heights in Nabatieh Governorate, where Israeli artillery units targeted the mountainous area with phosphorus shells, according to Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen network.
Threats, accusations, and talks
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to retaliate, writing on X, "No score on any front will remain unsettled," and adding, "We will forcefully defend our soldiers and citizens."
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes and accused Israel of sending a "clear message" ahead of the next round of US-sponsored negotiations, according to The Times of Israel.
In response to the Israeli account that civilians were only discovered after the strike, the Prime Minister’s Office said, "Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound," while Hezbollah accused Israel of a "brutal massacre" against civilians.
Ynetnews reported that Lebanese media said 11 people were killed and 19 wounded in Israeli strikes Saturday in the Ali Taher ridge area, while it also cited the Lebanese Health Ministry saying the dead there included two children and three women.
The Times of Israel said Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter warned that if Lebanon used the incident to delay or discontinue peace talks, it would hand "a tactical victory to the enemies of peace," and it quoted Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman saying Israel wanted talks that "should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious".
UNIFIL, framework, and risk
The AP7AM report said UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel stated that an international presence in southern Lebanon remains important and that UNIFIL peacekeepers continue supporting the parties in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
“continue supporting the parties in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701”
Ardiel said UNIFIL also continues to support efforts to strengthen the presence of the Lebanese army and extend state authority in the south, while noting that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had presented three options to the UN Security Council for consideration.
Haaretz linked the escalation to US involvement, saying the Americans requested clarifications from Israel, while PressTV reported that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued threats against Lebanon accusing Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire and attacking inside the “Yellow Line.”
In the same PressTV account, Netanyahu’s office confirmed that three Israeli troops had been injured in a Hezbollah strike and said Israeli forces responded by attacking what it described as a “resistance headquarters” in southern Lebanon, an attack the office said killed at least 11 people, including women and children.
The stakes described across the reporting centered on the ceasefire and the framework agreement, with Ici Beyrouth saying the weekend strikes were the deadliest since the June framework agreement under American sponsorship between Beirut and Israel, which calls for disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, and deployment of the Lebanese army in the region.
