BERIUT: Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with Israel saying it had targeted members of Hezbollah.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that followed more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group that culminated in two months of open war.
The health ministry said in a statement that an “Israeli drone strike” on an excavator in Yater killed one person.
It also reported a separate air strike on Deir Aames, which killed one person and wounded another.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed Mahmud Ali Issa in Deir Aames, alleging he was “responsible for the financial and military connections between Hezbollah and the residents of the village.”
It also said it killed a Hezbollah member who “operated an engineering vehicle in the Zibqin area,” near Yater, accusing him of trying to “reestablish Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites.”
Israel carries out strikes in southern Lebanon on a near-daily basis, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah.
The United Nations said last week it had verified the deaths of 103 civilians in Lebanon since the November truce, demanding a halt to the ongoing suffering.
Tuesday’s attacks follow an Israeli strike the day before that killed a man who had been previously wounded and lost his sight when Israel blew up hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members last year. The man’s wife was also killed in the strike.
Hezbollah, which was severely weakened by the war, faces a push to give up its arsenal.
Under intense US and Israeli pressure, Lebanon’s government is seeking to disarm the group, and the Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to do so beginning in the country’s south.
Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes on south
https://arab.news/5v77v
Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes on south
- Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with Israel saying it had targeted members of Hezbollah
Syria transition ‘fragile’, one year on: UN investigators
- The commission said moving beyond the legacy of war and destruction would take “great strength, patience and support”
GENEVA: Syria’s transition is fragile, one year on from the overthrow of ruler Bashar Assad, and the country’s cycles of vengeance and reprisal need to end, United Nations investigators said Sunday.
Syrians have been marking the first anniversary since Islamist-led forces pressed a lightning offensive to topple Assad on December 8, 2024 after nearly 14 years of war.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria investigates and records all international human rights law violations since March 2011 in the country.
The panel congratulated Syria on the steps it has taken so far to address the crimes and abuses inflicted during previous decades.
But it said violent events since Assad’s downfall had caused renewed displacement and polarization, “raising worries about the future direction of the country.”
The commission said the “horrific catalogue” of abuse inflicted by Assad’s regime “amounted to industrial criminal violence” against Syria’s people.
“The cycles of vengeance and reprisal must be brought to an end, so that Syria can continue to move toward a future as a state that guarantees full respect for the human rights of all its people, with equality, the rule of law, peace and security for all in name and in deed,” the commission said.
“Syria’s transition is fragile. While many across the country will celebrate this anniversary, others are fearing for their present security, and many will sleep in tents again this winter. The unknown fate of many thousands who were forcibly disappeared remains an open wound.”
The commission said moving beyond the legacy of war and destruction would take “great strength, patience and support.”
“The Syrian people deserve to live in peace, with full respect for rights long denied, and we have no doubt they are up to the task,” it said.
The three-person commission is tasked with establishing facts with a view to ensuring that the perpetrators of violations are ultimately held accountable.
The UN Human Rights Council extended its mandate for a further year in April.
