Beirut/Jerusalem: Four people were killed and two others wounded in separate Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, media reported.
The country’s state-run National News Agency said on Sunday that Israeli drones and warplanes targeted several vehicles in Lebanon’s southern and eastern regions.
Meanwhile, security sources told Xinhua news agency that three of the dead were Hezbollah members and the fourth was a Syrian national.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it carried out two rounds of strikes on Sunday, killing a Hezbollah official and a suspected weapons smuggler for the group, Xinhua news agency reported.
The strikes hit the towns of Zawtar, Qlaileh, Naqoura, and Nabi Sheet, marking one of the deadliest weeks since the cross-border escalation intensified.
Lebanese officials said at least 10 people have been killed in daily Israeli attacks this week.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed that Israeli forces killed a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in a strike on Qlaileh.
The operation was part of what Israeli officials described as an ongoing effort to prevent the group from reestablishing its military infrastructure in the south.
Although a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been in place since November 2024, Israel continues near-daily strikes in Lebanon, saying they target ongoing Hezbollah threats along the border.
Lebanon and several international organisations have condemned the attacks as violations of the truce.
Israeli media later reported that over the past 24 hours, a series of precision strikes killed several senior Hezbollah commanders across Lebanon.
Among them was Zain al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, a commander in the Radwan Force’s anti-tank unit, killed in southern Lebanon; Mohammad Akram Arabia, a senior Radwan officer, killed in Qlaileh; Abd Mahmoud al-Sayyed, targeted in Naqoura; and Ali Hussein al-Moussawi, whom Israel described as a weapons trafficker for Hezbollah operating between Syria and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz visited the Israel-Lebanon border alongside US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, according to the Israeli Defence Ministry.
Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon and on Beirut’s southern suburbs despite a ceasefire agreement implemented on November 27, 2024. Its forces remain stationed at eight positions along the southern border.
The UN Human Rights Office has recorded at least 103 civilian deaths since the truce took effect, mostly in residential areas or near UN peacekeeping posts, while Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports more than 285 fatalities and 630 wounded.
(IANS)
