Two people have been killed and eight others injured in southern Lebanon following Israeli airstrikes, the Lebanese health ministry was reported as saying.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes against dozens of “terrorist” targets in response to “rocket fire” at Israel from Lebanon on Saturday morning.
It was the heaviest exchange of fire since a US-brokered truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah came into effect last November.
The Israeli military said it had intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about four miles north of the border towards the Israeli town of Metula. It was the second time since December that rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon.
Image: Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes. Pic: Reuters
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, saying it had “no link” to the launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The fresh violence has sparked concern about whether the fragile ceasefire could hold.
According to Lebanese state news agency NNA, citing Lebanon’s health ministry, two people were killed and eight wounded by Israeli attacks.
NNA reported a spate of Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages in the country’s war-battered south, including border towns and hilltops around five miles inside Lebanese territory.
Image: An Israeli soldier stands above the Israeli border town of Metula. Pic: Reuters
The strikes also come a day after Israel said it would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds – 24 of whom are believed alive.
Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict then broke out into a war last September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders.
Image: Pic: Reuters
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The fighting has killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.
Under the ceasefire reached in November, Israeli forces agreed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January.
The deadline was extended to 18 February by agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
However, since then, Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel, and has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah.
Lebanon has appealed to the UN to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south, but in a statement said the country did not want to return to war.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, saying further escalation could have serious consequences for the region.
