Israel launches fresh strikes on southern Lebanon despite ceasefire; at least five killed
Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people in southern Lebanon on Saturday, hours after a ceasefire with Hezbollah was agreed upon on Friday.
Despite a ceasefire agreed on Friday between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli forces carried out a new wave of strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, Lebanese state media reported. At least five people were killed in the attacks.
According to Lebanon's National News Agency, Israeli warplanes hit Nabatieh al-Fawqa shortly after midnight. Later strikes on the town of Arabsalim reportedly killed three people. Drone strikes on the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Doueir killed another two people.
The developments come less than a day after US officials said Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had agreed to a renewed ceasefire. The two sides had exchanged a series of clashes from Thursday night into Friday, potentially threatening the US's provisional peace agreement with Iran.
On Friday, Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said "all of Lebanon must burn" after the Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers had been killed in the south of the country. "For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep," he wrote on social media.
The Israel Defense Forces launched strikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday night, targeting what it said were Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.
