Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon, killing at least 11 people in one village, as the Israeli government accused Hezbollah of repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreement.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that the overnight strikes killed 11 people, including two infants, in the southern village of Kfar Rumman, near Nabatieh. The attacks came a day after separate Israeli raids killed seven people.
The Israeli strikes have intensified in the Nabatieh area after Israel said last Thursday that its forces had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group has not publicly commented on the claim.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted in March after the group launched attacks against Israel in support of Iran, had eased following a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East conflict and a subsequent Israel-Lebanon framework agreement.
However, tensions have continued to rise along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday accused Hezbollah of carrying out “repeated drone attacks” and attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon.
The ministry said the activities amounted to violations of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which includes provisions requiring the disarmament of Hezbollah.
According to the NNA, nine people were killed when an Israeli strike destroyed a three-storey residential building in Kfar Rumman.
Two rescuers were also killed after their vehicle came under attack, the agency reported. One of them was 18 years old, according to his civil defence organisation, which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.
An AFP photographer at the scene reported that the targeted building had been completely destroyed, with schoolbooks, furniture and other belongings scattered across the rubble as rescue teams searched for possible survivors.
The strikes have renewed fear among residents who returned to their homes after being displaced during the fighting.
“Since we returned here, we’ve lived in fear,” Fouad Chakaron, a resident, told AFP.
He said the targeted building was occupied by “peaceful people with no connection to anyone”.
Nearby residents fled following the strike, which also damaged surrounding buildings.
Israel did not issue a warning before striking Kfar Rumman, but it issued an evacuation order before a separate attack in nearby Deir Zahrani.
The Israeli military said in an Arabic-language message that it was targeting a “Hezbollah terrorist facility” and warned residents that those who remained in the area would be at risk.
Resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP that he received a call at about 2am instructing him to leave his home because it was being targeted.
“I said that’s impossible, why is my house being targeted? There’s nothing in it. I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Toufeili said he took his wife, children and elderly mother out of the house in their pyjamas and watched from the street as the building was destroyed.
Sunday’s Israeli strikes killed seven people, while four others were killed in attacks on Friday.
The Israeli military said its latest operations were in response to Hezbollah launching two drones towards Israeli troops operating inside Lebanon, although it did not say whether any soldiers were wounded.
Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attack since June 20.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli airstrikes and a ground offensive in Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March.
Israeli forces remain inside a self-declared security zone extending about 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanese territory along the border.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday called on Washington and the international community to intervene to halt the Israeli attacks and prevent further escalation.
