Israeli airstrikes killed at least a dozen people, including two children, in southern Lebanon early Monday as renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah puts a U.S.-brokered truce on shaky ground.
Two strikes hit the village of Kfar Rumman, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. One struck a residential building, killing 11 people, including two children and four women, and eight others were wounded.
A second strike hit a vehicle, killing a paramedic with the Lebanese Islamic Risala Scout Association and wounding two other people.
The Israeli military said the strikes were carried out in response to two explosive drone attacks launched by Hezbollah targeting Israeli troops in Lebanon. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah terrorist who was “identified transferring weapons in the area of Kfar Reman.” Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the drone attacks.
The strikes mark the latest warfare in southern Lebanon despite a U.S.-mediated framework agreement reached in June that was intended to bring an end to months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The two countries had continued negotiations in Rome over a permanent diplomatic settlement, but Hezbollah was not a party in those talks.
Fighting has intensified in recent days around the strategically important Ali Taher hill, an area in which Hezbollah factions reside. Israel said last week that its forces had gained “operational control” of the hill, which overlooks surrounding villages and roads and contains underground infrastructure used by Hezbollah. The group has rejected proposals to hand the position over to the Lebanese military.
Israeli strikes Sunday killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon and destroyed an empty hospital after another Hezbollah drone attack.
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The renewed fighting comes as Israel and Lebanon have made diplomatic progress elsewhere. Israel last week released five Lebanese prisoners under an agreement in which Lebanon pledged to search for remains of Jewish Lebanese citizens who disappeared during the country’s civil war.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, fighting between U.S. forces and Iran resumed last week. The United States has claimed Iran has been laying naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, leading to strikes on Tehran’s military operations. President Donald Trump has said he doesn’t expect the renewed fighting to last very long, but he made a similar remark when the war first started over six months ago.
