Israeli air raids across southern Lebanon have killed at least five people as attacks continue despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire”.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that one person was killed in an air strike targeting the town of Maarakeh in the Tyre District.
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Ali Badie, the mayor of Ar-Rihan municipality, was killed in an Israeli attack on the area in the Jezzine district of southern Lebanon. Three people were killed in the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Kafr Reman in Nabatieh District.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks at dawn demolished homes and government buildings in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, according to NNA. Later, Israeli attacks hit the towns of Bir Ayshiyeh, Rmeish and Khirbet Selm in Bint Jbeil.
Israeli air raids hit the villages of Qana, Bazouriyeh and Rashkananiyeh in Tyre district, as well as the municipality of Kfar Tibnit in the Nabatieh district, NNA said. Two additional air attacks were reported at the junction between Nabatieh and Kfar Reman, and the town of al-Riz in Sidon district. And the Majdal Zoun municipality in the Tyre district was hit by artillery shelling.
A new Israeli attack was also reported in the municipality of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the Nabatieh district. Further Israeli strikes targeted Deir Qanun al-Nahr and as-Sawana in Marjayoun district.
The Israeli military also threatened residents of 24 Lebanese towns and villages to leave their homes immediately and move “north of the Zahrani River”.
The forced displacement orders apply to Deir al-Zahrani, al-Namirieh, al-Sharquieh, al-Dewayr, Harouf, Habboush, Kfarjoz, Zibdine (Nabatieh), Nabatieh al-Tahta, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Kfar Rouman, Al-Mahmoudieh, Sajed (Jezzine), Reihan, Aaramta, Kfarchouba, Mlki, Al-Lawiza (Jezzine), Jarjouh, Arab Salim, Ghassaniyeh, az-Zrariyah, Mazraat Kaoutariyet er-Rizz and Sir el-Gharbiyeh.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said an air raid alert had been activated in the northern town of Metula due to the “infiltration of a hostile aircraft” from Lebanon, but did not name the armed group Hezbollah.
In a post on social media, the Israeli military claimed it has killed seven Hezbollah fighters over the past week. In a separate post, it said it has destroyed the armed group’s rocket launchers and hit more than 70 of its sites in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army said that one of its soldiers was severely injured after being targeted by the Israeli military twice as he was travelling on the Kfar Reman–Nabatieh road.
US-Iran deal should include Lebanon
The attacks come as Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that an agreement between the United States and Iran would likely be finalised within the next 24 hours.
In a post on social media, Sharif said “the electronic signing of the peace deal [would take place] immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said later on Saturday that the memorandum of understanding would not be signed on Sunday, but that it could be within the “coming days”, according to state media.
Iranian media reported the initial agreement would declare an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon”.
This has led to fears that Israel’s actions in Lebanon could scupper a deal, since Israel is not a party to the negotiations between the US and Iran, and its leaders have said they do not plan to withdraw from Lebanon.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said there had not been any cessation in military activity in Lebanon despite Iran saying that Lebanon would be included in a deal with the US.
“Instead, what we have seen over the course of Saturday morning so far is wide-ranging, forced displacement orders … There have been multiple air strikes across the south over the course of the morning as well. This once again represents an expansion, rather than a cessation of Israeli military activity,” she said.
“This isn’t necessarily a moment of peace here – in fact, it is a moment of danger, just like it was on April 8, when there were discussions on whether or not Lebanon was going to be included in the deal. The Israeli prime minister and his military made it clear that it would not be, and later that afternoon it turned into the deadliest day of the war as more than 350 people were killed.”
The attacks also come amid a supposed ceasefire, agreed between Israeli and Lebanese officials earlier this month, that would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, yet the fighting continues.
The next round of talks between the two countries is expected on June 22, with a view towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.
According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, at least 3,756 people have killed and 11,632 others injured in Israeli attacks since March 2.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that the country is at a “fateful juncture” with a choice to become “a sovereign state that monopolises arms and upholds the rule of law” or to remain “hostage to the logic of militias and the culture of exclusion”.
Speaking on the anniversary of the assassination of former minister Tony Suleiman Frangieh in 1978 by armed factions, Aoun said national unity was an “existential necessity”.
“We are at a moment that tolerates neither sectarian luxury nor regional tug-of-war,” he said.