1 killed in Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon left one person dead on Saturday, the Lebanese official National News Agency reported, in a new violation of the ceasefire.

The news agency said the strike hit a car on the Khardali road near Ain al-Qasab junction in the Nabatieh district. The victim was from the town of Khiam and residing in Kfarkela.

The attack came a day after Israel killed two people in strikes on two cars in Nabatieh.

On Thursday, Israeli warplanes carried out heavy raids on five towns in southern Lebanon, prompting the Lebanese army to condemn the escalation and warn that it undermined its plan to enforce a deployment and exclusive control of weapons south of the Litani River.

A ceasefire was reached in November 2024 following an exchange of cross-border attacks between the Hezbollah group and Israel since October 2023. The exchange escalated into a full-scale Israeli war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people and injuring around 17,000.

Under the truce, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by January, but it only partially pulled out troops and maintains a military presence at five border outposts.