Israeli strikes kill at least 11 in southern Lebanon in deadliest attacks since truce

On Saturday, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of at least 11 people, including three children, in what was described as the deadliest attacks since a truce with Hezbollah went into effect on June 20. The victims included seven individuals killed in an airstrike targeting a home in the outskirts of Ansar village, and four people killed in another airstrike in the village of Deir al-Zahrani, with 17 others wounded.

Despite an agreement signed on June 26 between Israel and the Lebanese government, which called for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, the attacks occurred. The agreement was seen as a step towards a potential peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, which have been technically at war for nearly eight decades since Israel's establishment.

However, Hezbollah, which remains uninvolved in the talks and has not agreed to disarm, rejected the framework and did not participate in the agreement.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strikes, stating that they were targeting civilians and undermining stability efforts in the region. He emphasized that the victims were not military targets, but rather ordinary civilians. President Joseph Aoun described the strikes as a "clear message" to the negotiation track and the American efforts to implement the agreement.

Israel, on the other hand, claimed that its military action was a response to an attack on its soldiers in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure following an attack that resulted in the serious wounding of three Israeli soldiers. However, it later admitted that civilians were present at the site when the strikes were carried out.

The Israeli military identified Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan as a battalion commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, and stated that he and his family were killed or wounded in the Ansar airstrike, though they were not deliberately targeted.

Hezbollah did not confirm whether it carried out the attack on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon but instead called on the Lebanese state to address the aggression and rejected US-sponsored direct talks with Israel. The Israeli military deaths marked the first since the June truce. Prior to the latest conflict, which erupted on March 2 following Hezbollah's firing of rockets across the border in response to US and Israeli attacks on Iran, more than 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, had been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon.