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In brief
- At least 17 people have been killed by Israeli air and drone strikes in Lebanon, local authorities say.
- It marks another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect.
Israeli drones targeted vehicles south of Beirut, resulting in the deaths of four individuals, while air assaults in southern Lebanon claimed the lives of at least 13 people, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, as reported by Lebanese officials.
This recent wave of strikes signals a further intensification of conflict, even after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was declared on April 17. Despite the truce, both parties have persisted with their daily offensives.
On Saturday, local time, two attacks occurred on the highway connecting Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon, injuring multiple individuals. A third strike happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region, resulting in three fatalities, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
The Lebanese health ministry confirmed that an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh resulted in at least seven deaths, including a child, and left 15 others injured. These figures were described as preliminary.
Additional strikes were reported in southern Lebanon, with the village of Bourj Rahhal experiencing a strike that killed three and another in Maifadoun claiming one life, as noted by the agency.
In a separate incident, the ministry said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.
The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man.
The girl then moved about 100m away and was hit again by the drone after she had already been wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.
“The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon,” the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series “of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law”.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon, adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It claimed Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon one of which hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon, as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on 2 March, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah’s main backer, Iran.
Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting next week.
A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on 17 April. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.
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