Israeli Strikes Leave 11 Dead In Lebanon, Including Three Children

On Saturday, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people — including two women and three children — in strikes targeting Ansar and Deir-al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes came in response to an earlier Hezbollah attack on Israeli personnel, which he claimed had “seriously injured” three IDF soldiers in what Israel terms its “security zone” inside southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri said on Saturday the IDF was responsible for “massacres” and characterized Israel’s military operations in his country as an “ongoing war of extermination.” 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the killing of “an entire family” by Israel in Ansar. Aoun also denounced “ongoing Israeli attacks” on the south and “repeated violations of the framework agreement” signed by Lebanon, Israel, and the United States on June 26.

Under the agreement, Israel “will remain in” a “security zone in southern Lebanon…until Hezbollah is disarmed,” Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has said. But Hezbollah, which is not a signatory to the agreement, has refused to enter direct talks, and has warned that the U.S.-brokered deal—which envisions the disarmament of the paramilitary group by Lebanon’s armed forces—could create conditions for “civil war.” For its part, Israel does not appear to be moving to end its occupation of southern Lebanon, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz asserting Thursday that “under no circumstances will we withdraw from the security zones: not in Lebanon, not in Syria and not in Gaza.” 

Israel has also continued to conduct air strikes and other military operations inside Lebanon since the agreement was signed. According to the Lebanese health ministry, 4,335 Lebanese have been killed by the Israeli military since March 2. An estimated 40 Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians (including one military contractor) have been killed during the same period.