BEIRUT: Israel launched fresh strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon after raids earlier Wednesday killed two people, the latest violence despite a year-old ceasefire with the militant group.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids on buildings in several south Lebanon towns including Qanarit and Kfour, after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings to residents identifying sites it intended to strike there.
An AFP photographer was slightly wounded along with two other journalists who were working near the site of a heavy strike in Qanarit.
The Israeli army said it was striking Hezbollah targets in response to the group’s “repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah.
But Israel has criticized the Lebanese army’s progress as insufficient and has kept up regular strikes, usually saying it is targeting members of the Iran-backed group or its infrastructure.
Earlier Wednesday, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, killed one person.
An AFP correspondent saw a charred car on a main road with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance.
Later, the ministry said another strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazuriyeh in the Tyre district killed one person.
Israel said it struck Hezbollah operatives in both areas.
A Lebanese army statement decried the Israeli targeting of “civilian buildings and homes” in a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty” and the ceasefire deal.
It also said such attacks “hinder the army’s efforts” to complete the disarmament plan.
This month, the army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Most of Wednesday’s strikes were north of the river.
More than 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
The November 2024 truce sought to end more than a year of hostilities, but Israel accuses Hezbollah of rearming, while the militant group has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
Two dead in wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon
https://arab.news/6dx8h
Two dead in wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon
- Israeli warplanes launch raids on buildings in several south Lebanon towns including Qanarit and Kfour
- Two people killed in earlier strikes in Sidon and Tyre
Elderly Palestinian shot dead in Rafah
- Death toll from Israel’s aggression on Gaza rises to 71,795 since start of assault in October 2023
GAZA: An elderly Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire in Rafah on Sunday afternoon, bringing the number of fatalities since morning to two, according to local and medical sources.
The sources reported that Khaled Hammad Dahleez, 63, was shot dead by an Israeli drone northwest of Rafah.
Earlier in the day, another man was killed and several others injured in a drone strike north of Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian News Agency reported.
BACKGROUND
On Saturday, at least 31 Palestinians, including children and women, were slaughtered in a series of Israeli airstrikes on several locations across the enclave — one of the deadliest days since the start of the ceasefire agreement on Oct. 11, 2025.
On Saturday, at least 31 Palestinians, including children and women, were slaughtered in a series of Israeli airstrikes on several locations across the war-ravaged enclave — one of the deadliest days since the start of the ceasefire agreement on Oct. 11, 2025.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 11, the number of people killed has risen to 523, with 1,433 injuries recorded, while 715 bodies have been recovered during the same period.
Medical sources said on Sunday the death toll from Israel’s aggression on the Gaza Strip had risen to 71,795 Palestinians killed and 171,551 injured since the start of the assault in October 2023.
The sources reported that 26 fatalities and 68 injuries were brought to Gaza hospitals over the past 48 hours, noting that numerous victims were trapped under rubble or in the streets, with ambulance and rescue crews unable to reach them.
The ceasefire’s first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, a surge in humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.
The second phase is more complicated. It calls for installing a new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas, and taking steps to begin rebuilding.
Hamas has so far rejected disarmament and Israel has repeatedly indicated that if the Islamist militant group is not disarmed peacefully, it will use force to make it do so.
