Israel strikes Lebanon, accuses Hezbollah of truce violations

KFAR RUMMAN, Lebanon: Israel conducted a wave of deadly airstrikes in south Lebanon, Lebanese state media said on Monday (Sep 7), as it accused Hezbollah of violating a ceasefire agreement that had brought a period of relative calm.

The strikes overnight killed 11 people in a south Lebanon village, including two infants, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said, a day after separate raids left seven dead.

Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.

Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.

On Monday, Israel's foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of "repeated drone attacks" and "attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon".

The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.

The NNA said nine people were killed in an Israeli strike that destroyed a three-storey residential building in the village of Kfar Rumman, near Nabatieh.

Two rescuers in the area whose car was targeted were also killed, the agency said.

One of the rescuers was just 18 years old, according to his civil defence organisation, which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.

An AFP photographer saw that the building that was hit in Kfar Rumman had been destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.

Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning for other victims.

Villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.

"Since we returned here, we've lived in fear," Fouad Chakaron told AFP.

He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by "peaceful people with no connection to anyone".

Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP's photographer said.

"I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT"

Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate strike in nearby Deir Zahrani.

The Israeli military said in an Arabic-language message that it was targeting a "Hezbollah terrorist facility", warning that those who remained in the area were at risk.

"They called me at 2 am and told me to get out of the house because it is being targeted," resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP, referring to the Israeli army.

"I said that's impossible, why is my house being targeted? There's nothing in it. I couldn't believe it."

He said he took his wife, children and elderly mother outside in their pyjamas and they stood on the street watching their house be destroyed.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes had killed another seven people after attacks on Friday killed four.

The Israeli army has said it is responding to Hezbollah's launch of two drones towards its soldiers inside Lebanon, but did not specify whether any of its troops were wounded.

Hezbollah has not claimed any attack since Jun 20.

Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.

Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10km deep inside Lebanon along the border.

On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.