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Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, including three children and two women, after Israel said Hezbollah violated the ceasefire and seriously wounded at least three IDF soldiers.
“Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday”
The Israeli airstrikes hit a home in Ansar, north of Tyre, where seven people were killed and two wounded, and another strike in Deir al-Zahrani, north of Nabatieh, where four people were killed and several others were wounded.
The IDF said it launched airstrikes overnight and struck Hezbollah infrastructure in response to the attack on Israeli troops, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hezbollah attacked in the security zone that protects Israeli communities across the border.
In the Nabatieh area, the IDF confirmed three troops operating near the Ali Taher Ridge were seriously wounded after being hit by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah around 2:30 a.m., with the officer and two soldiers taken to a hospital for treatment.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes as a “clear message” ahead of the next round of US-sponsored negotiations, as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on Israel to “halt this escalation” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah, Aoun, Salam
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the seven martyrs of the Israeli airstrike on Ansar were not military infrastructure, and that the children and women killed were not military targets.
Hezbollah said the Israeli escalation would be “met accordingly,” and in a statement on Telegram it accused Netanyahu of trying to escalate the war to bolster his domestic political standing.
The Netanyahu office maintained that “Hezbollah violated the ceasefire in Lebanon by attacking our soldiers in the security zone,” and said the IDF responded by striking the command center behind the operation.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF later said the three soldiers were wounded by an explosive drone from Hezbollah, and that the IDF and PMO said civilians were unintentionally killed in the strike.
In response to the IDF and PMO announcements, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Hezbollah “pure evil,” while Aoun condemned “ongoing Israeli attacks” in southern Lebanon as repeated violations of the framework agreement and international law protecting civilians.
Negotiations and escalation
The sources tied the strikes to the negotiation track, with Aoun and Salam condemning what they described as violations of the framework agreement ahead of a next round of US-sponsored talks expected to take place in Rome early next month.
“"should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite."”
The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman told AFP that Israel wanted new and more ambitious US-brokered talks with Lebanon following Saturday’s deadly attacks, asserting they “should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite.”
Shafaq News said Lebanese officials warned of repercussions on the negotiation track, while Hezbollah urged Lebanese authorities to reconsider their approach to negotiations and warned of an “appropriate response” if attacks continue.
Anadolu Ajansı put the Lebanese Ministry of Health toll at 11 dead and 19 injured, saying an Israeli air raid on Deir al-Zahrani resulted in 4 deaths and 17 injuries, and that earlier on Saturday an air raid on Ansar killed 7 people including 3 children and two women.
The Times of Israel also reported that the IDF said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area and Ansar, which are some 9 miles apart, killing the senior commander Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
