BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike in the country’s south killed one person Monday, the latest such raid despite a delicate truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and after a US envoy visited.
The “Israeli enemy” drone strike on the town of Taybeh near the border “led to the death of one citizen,” the health ministry said in a statement.
An Israeli security source said the Israeli military “struck a Hezbollah terrorist” in the Taybeh area.
The official National News Agency (NNA) said the strike hit “in front of a motorcycle repair shop” in the town, in south Lebanon’s Marjayoun district.
Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of total war.
Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Sunday killed two people in south Lebanon’s Zibqin, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.
Israeli strikes last week also targeted other south Lebanon locations and even Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion.
The NNA also reported Israeli strikes on prefabricated homes in south Lebanon’s Naqura area on Sunday. Such homes have usually been set up for returning residents whose homes were destroyed in the conflict.
The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed the situation in south Lebanon and economic reforms with senior Lebanese officials at the weekend, with talks also addressing Hezbollah’s disarmament.
In an interview with Lebanese television channel LBCI broadcast on Sunday, Ortagus said Washington continued to press Lebanon’s government “to fully fulfil the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias,” adding it should happen “as soon as possible.”
Hezbollah was left severely weakened in the latest conflict with Israel.
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