UPDATES DEATH TOLL; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE
By Mohammad Sio and Rania Abu Shamala
ISTANBUL (AA) - Three people were killed Friday in two Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement in place since November 2024.
An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the town of Toul in the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon killed two people and wounded two others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Friday.
A drone fired a guided missile at a car traveling on a road near the town of Toul in the Nabatieh district, setting it on fire, according to a statement by the ministry carried by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).
Later, the Israeli army said in a statement that it had killed a Hezbollah member named Abbas Hassan Karki in the Nabatieh area.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the Israeli army statement.
Later in the evening, the state agency reported that an Israeli drone targeted a car on the Qaaqaait al-Jisr in the Nabatieh district, killing one person, without providing further details.
In another violation of the ceasefire, an Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade near a bulldozer in the western neighborhood of the town of Khiam, in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, causing no casualties, according to the official agency.
Israel has repeatedly launched airstrikes in Lebanon on claims of targeting Hezbollah infrastructure despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November 2024.
Under the terms of the truce, the Israeli army was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 2025. However, it has so far only partially pulled out troops and continues to maintain a military presence at five border outposts.