At least 11 people, including two women and three children, have been killed in multiple Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
Another 19 people were injured in Saturday’s attacks, one of the deadliest in Lebanon since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on April 16.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israeli warplanes struck a house in the southern Lebanese village of Ansar on Saturday, killing seven people. Four more people were killed in a separate attack in the village of Deir al-Zahrani.
Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported several more airstrikes across southern Lebanon, the deepest in Lebanese territory in two months.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck a “central headquarters” of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in the village of Ansar, killing Radwan battalion commander Ali Samir al-Hajj Hassan.
The Israeli military also said that members of Hassan’s family were inside the military headquarters at the time of the attack, but claimed that they were not targeted by Israeli forces.
Hezbollah said in a statement after the attack that it would give an “appropriate response” to the attack on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told AFP that Israel’s attack on Hezbollah would not delay the talks. Rather, it would help to restart them and make them more productive.
“I think it will work,” Spielman said. “Hopefully, this step will move the negotiations forward. Because it’s clear who our enemy is here; and that enemy is Hezbollah.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the attack, saying that those killed in the Israeli attack on the village of Ansar were not in a “military installation.” The women and children killed were not military targets.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the attack as a “clear message” against efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement.
Under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire, Israel said it would not withdraw troops from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah disarmed. Hezbollah has rejected the terms, calling them “akin to surrender.”
Hezbollah attacked Israeli targets on March 2, two days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran. In response, Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon. The country’s army took control of part of southern Lebanon.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon so far.
