3 killed, many hurt in airstrikes as Israel says Hezbollah launched drone in security zone
Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on Thursday evening on several areas in south Lebanon and, for the first time in three months, an area in West Bekaa.
It said the strikes came in response to an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah at its forces in the so-called security zone in south Lebanon. The Israeli army noted that the drone was shot down and caused no casualties.
The Israeli strikes killed two people and wounded one in Nabatieh's Rweiss neighborhood,.killed one and wounded several in Tyre district's al-Ramadiyeh, and wounded one in West Bekaa's Ain el-Tineh, while rescue efforts were ongoing in Maifadoun in the Nabatieh district.
Other strikes also targeted the southern town of al-Kfour and areas in and around the Ali al-Taher ridge and in the al-Jabbour area.
Two young men were "targeted while riding a motorcycle" in the city of Nabatieh, the National News Agency said, adding that rescuers transported their bodies to a local hospital.
Israel announced on Thursday that it had taken control of the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in the Nabatieh region. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would work to "prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area."
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since March when the Tehran-backed group fired rockets at north Israel in support of Iran amid a U.S.-Israeli war on the Islamic republic in which supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.
The conflict has calmed since a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon agreed in June, but Lebanon still reports Israeli strikes.
Imran Riza, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, said on X on Friday that families returning to Nabatieh following the truce "face widespread destruction, lack of basic services, ongoing insecurity and uncertainty."
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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