Israeli Troops Kill Two Near Nabatieh Al-Fawqa After Firing At Hezbollah Members

Israeli troops shot dead two people in south Lebanon after a lull in fighting, with Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency saying the men were standing near a bulldozer that was unblocking a road in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

“Israeli troops kill two in south Lebanon after lull in fighting, authorities say Israeli soldiers have shot dead two people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry says, in the first fatal incident reported since the latest ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah appeared to take hold at the weekend”

BBC

The BBC reported that Hezbollah condemned the shooting as "a blatant violation of the ceasefire" while Israel’s military said soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area fired at "four Hezbollah terrorists riding a bulldozer and a motorcycle" who posed a threat.

BBC

The BBC also said the Israeli military released a photo it said showed one of the men holding a rifle, and it added that soldiers struck a "cell of armed terrorists" north of the security zone.

In Washington, a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks began as Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem demanded a timetable for Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, and the fighting in Lebanon had largely paused since Saturday evening, according to the Prothom Alo English report.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem told viewers in a televised address that "Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch," as the Prothom Alo English report described the demand alongside claims of Israeli gunfire killing two people.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the two men were killed Tuesday when Israeli soldiers opened fire with machine-guns "while they were standing near an excavator that was unblocking a road" in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and the health ministry later confirmed the toll.

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The BBC reported that Hezbollah’s military wing, the Islamic Resistance, said in a statement: "What the enemy has committed constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire, which the Resistance has adhered to up to this point".

Israel’s military framed the incident differently, saying soldiers fired warning shots at four alleged Hezbollah militants on a bulldozer and a motorcycle before "additional fire was conducted in order to remove the threat," according to Prothom Alo English.

The stakes for Lebanon’s political direction were tied to the talks in Washington, where Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected Israel’s occupation of the south and foreign interference in his country’s affairs, and the Prothom Alo English report said the fifth round began as mediators Pakistan and Qatar said Tehran and Washington agreed to set up a “de-confliction cell.”

“The Lebanese Army announced the death of a second soldier on Saturday, Corporal Fadel Abdallah Ayoub, who died in an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Kfar Tebnit in the Nabatieh District”

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Aoun said he accepted nothing less than "an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage," and his office said he hoped the current round would be “decisive” in helping obtain “the full restoration of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

The BBC reported that Iran insisted Lebanon be covered by the agreement signed with the US last week, and it quoted Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, warning that "violations of the ceasefire framework risked derailing broader diplomatic progress."

The BBC also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis on Monday night that Israeli troops had full freedom of action against any Hezbollah threat and would remain in Lebanon "as long as is necessary," as the ceasefire largely held since Sunday.