11 killed in Israeli strikes on southern towns as Israel says Hezbollah attacked troops in Ali al-Taher

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike in the country's south on Saturday killed seven people, including three children and two women, in the worst toll since deals in June saw a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Four people were killed and five others were meanwhile wounded in another Israeli airstrike on a two-story building in the southern town of Deir al-Zahrani later on Saturday.

The Israeli army meanwhile said that the Ansar airstrike and other heavy attacks in the Nabatieh region came in response to Hezbollah action against Israeli troops in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.

The Israeli military added that it will not allow the Hezbollah to harm Israeli civilians or soldiers “and will continue to operate to remove threats.”

A Hezbollah official did not immediately respond when asked for comment on whether they carried out any attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Media reports said Israeli soldiers were evacuated from the area in helicopters.

The National News Agency (NNA) said Israel "escalated its attacks on the south" early Saturday, reporting that "a strike launched by enemy warplanes on a home" on the outskirts of the village of Ansar "killed seven people and wounded three others."

It also said "Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge," a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area, also reporting Israeli shelling there.

Israel's military has previously said that Hezbollah fighters were hiding out in "underground terror infrastructure" in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.

The NNA said "the valley between Ansar and Zarariyeh was also subjected to a strike, the first at this geographical depth since the ceasefire two months ago."

An AFP correspondent in Ansar saw a destroyed building as rescuers working to remove human remains from the rubble, and a swimming pool clouded and grey from dust and debris.

Abbas Khalil, 60, said he was doing his early morning Islamic prayers when the strike hit.

"We were shocked... There's no justification for this," he told AFP.

Standing next to the swampy swimming pool in Ansar, building owner Mohammed Saab told AFP he waited every year to rent it out over the summer.

"What do I have here for this to happen?" he said in shock.

Ansar is around 20 kilometers from the Israeli border and is located beyond a so-called "yellow line" declared by the Israeli army which runs in Lebanese territory along the frontier and where Israeli troops are operating.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Violence has significantly decreased since the signing of a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding in June on the broader Middle East war, followed by a U.S.-sponsored framework deal between Lebanon and Israel later that month.

But Lebanon still reports intermittent Israeli strikes, occasionally causing casualties, and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

- 'Humiliation' -

The NNA also said Israeli forces detonated homes in the town of Bint Jbeil near the border early Saturday.

The Israel-Lebanon framework deal includes the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".

Israel and Lebanon are to hold an eighth round of U.S.-sponsored negotiations in Rome early next month.

On Friday, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of subjecting the country's armed forces to undue pressure by implementing the deal.

"How can you accept this ongoing humiliation of the Lebanese Army, exposing it to bombardment and Israeli pressures, instead of acting as its protectors?" Qassem said.

Earlier this week, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon, vowing to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" there and saying the Israeli military was "destroying the underground infrastructure" and "destroying all the houses" in the area.

When asked about Katz's remarks, a U.S. State Department official told AFP that "a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework".