By Nazih Osseiran, Eman Abouhassira and Emily Rose
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement on X, accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire and attacking Israeli soldiers leading to three injuries. BEIRUT, – At least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, some of the deadliest in the weeks since the country agreed to a U.S.-mediated peace framework with neighbouring Israel.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it describes as a security zone in southern Lebanon in response to actions against its soldiers there. Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that the attacks would be “met with what they deserve”. “The martyrs of the Israeli raid on the village of Ansar are not ‘military infrastructure’ and the women and children killed in it are not military targets,” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in a post on X. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in a statement on X, said the attacks were a “clear message” aimed at the negotiations and U.S. efforts towards implementing the framework agreement.
Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, who is a Hezbollah ally, called in a statement for national unity and for the sponsors of the peace talks and ceasefire agreements to assume responsibility for stopping the war before it was too late. A U.S.
State Department official said a permanent Israeli military presence there was not consistent with commitments set out in the deal. During a visit to southern Lebanon on Thursday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not withdraw from areas under its control until Hezbollah was disarmed.
