Israel Kills 11 in Southern Lebanon in Escalating Violation of the Ceasefire

Israeli attacks killed at least 11 people across southern Lebanon on Saturday, in the deadliest assault since agreements reached in June reduced hostilities, as Israel escalated its violations of the ceasefire with strikes on towns and villages across the south.

The deadliest strike hit a house on the outskirts of the town of Ansar, in the Nabatieh district, early on Saturday, destroying the building and killing seven members of a single family. Emergency teams from Lebanese civil defense and health organizations worked to pull the dead and wounded from the rubble. Further strikes killed others in Deir al-Zahrani and across the south, as Israeli forces hit the Ali al-Taher ridge near Nabatieh al-Fawqa, struck areas near a teachers’ training center and a sports club, and for the first time since the truce reached deep into the valley between Ansar and Zarariyeh. Closer to the border, occupation forces destroyed several homes in Bint Jbeil.

Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri condemned the killings, saying the two Israeli massacres in the towns of Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani were a continuation of the war of extermination in the south.

The escalation followed an overnight attempt by Israeli occupation units to storm the strategic Ali al-Taher hill, an elevated position overlooking much of the south. According to Lebanese reports, Israeli forces tried to advance on the hill, prompting Hezbollah fighters to confront them in defense of the position, wounding three Israeli soldiers in the clash. Netanyahu’s office cast that confrontation as a Hezbollah attack on its soldiers in what it called the security zone protecting Israeli settlements across the border, inverting an Israeli incursion into Lebanese territory to present the occupation as the victim.