Israeli military airstrikes killed 11 people, including women and children, yesterday, Saturday, in two communities in southern Lebanon; This is the heaviest single-day death toll since the June agreements, which allowed hostilities between Israeli forces and the Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement to de-escalate to some extent.
The Israeli military initially announced yesterday morning that it had targeted Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure” in retaliation for an “attack” against its troops in southern Lebanon; it later reported that it had “eliminated” a member of the movement by striking a “general headquarters” in the town of Ansar.
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The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported seven deaths in that strike, including “three children and two women.”
The Israeli military stated that it was informed after the fact that “the family” of “terrorist Ali Samir al-Hajj Hassan” was “with him,” asserting that “they were not the target” and claiming that “he used his family as human shields.”
Later, four people were killed and 17 others were wounded, including “a child and 11 women,” in the community of Deir Zahрани, which, like the village of Ansar, is located about twenty kilometers from the border, according to the Ministry of Health in Beirut.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced the fact that “an entire family” had been wiped out, a development in which he saw a “clear message” from Israel regarding the future of the negotiations his government has been conducting with that of Benjamin Netanyahu since April, with the eighth round scheduled to take place in earlySeptember in Rome.
The Israeli airstrikes should lead to the negotiations continuing with greater momentum, to “make them more serious” rather than “have the opposite effect,” said Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Spielman, in remarks to Agence France-Presse.
Like the Israeli military, Netanyahu’s office accused Hezbollah of using civilians as “human shields.”
On the other hand, Hezbollah threatened Israel with retaliation, stating that it would deliver the “appropriate response” and once again called on President Aoun’s government to end the “humiliating” negotiations with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.
“Breach of the agreement”
An AFP reporter saw a destroyed building in the village of Ansar, as well as a damaged swimming pool and vehicles, and observed extensive damage in Deir Zahрани.
Abbas Khalil, a resident of Ansar, told the French news agency that he heard the bombing “around 4:30 a.m.” “We’re in shock (…) nothing justifies this.”
Residents fled southern Lebanon, as captured by AFP cameras, with lines of vehicles—some of which were loaded with their personal belongings—heading toward Saida, further north.
The official Lebanese news agency ANI reported another strike near Ansar, “the first to penetrate so deep” into Lebanese territory in two months.
It also mentioned strikes around the Ali al-Taher ridge, which overlooks the southern region of Nabatiyeh.
The Israeli military initially reported that it had “targeted Hezbollah infrastructure” “in the Nabatiya and Ansar areas” in retaliation for an attack against one of its units in the sector. It referred to a “dangerous violation of the agreement” by Hezbollah, which “attacked our forces inside the security zone” (Editor’s note: This is how Israel refers to the sectors of southern Lebanon, approximately 10 kilometers deep, that it occupies).
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office reported that three soldiers were seriously wounded.
According to the Israeli source Ali Samir al-Hajj Hassan, the target of the bombing in the village of Ansar was the battalion commander of the so-called al-Radwan Force (“deterrence”), an elite unit of Hezbollah.
The “seven victims” in Ansar “did not constitute ‘military infrastructure,’” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam countered in an indignant tone.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, denounced the “massacres” and called on the countries that are guarantors of “the negotiations and agreements” to “assume their responsibilities and put an end to this war of extermination.”
“Electoral interests”
The Shiite movement saw in the bombings “the desire and the will” of Benjamin Netanyahu to “serve his electoral interests,” as Israel’s parliamentary elections in October loom on the horizon.
Hezbollah is accused of dragging Lebanon into the war in the Middle East on March 2, firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attack against the Islamic Republic on February 28. The Israeli military responded by launching massive airstrikes and carrying out a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. According to authorities in Beirut, these operations claimed the lives of more than 4,300 people in the country.
Although the violence on Lebanese territory has subsided—initially following the signing of the so-called Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding by the presidents of the U.S. and Iran in mid-June, and subsequently following the signing of the framework agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel, Beirut continues to report sporadic Israeli strikes and destruction.
The so-called framework agreement provides for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the areas of southern Lebanon they occupy, and the deployment of the Lebanese army to those areas, beginning with “pilot zones.”
Earlier this week, Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, visited southern Lebanon and stated that his country’s armed forces would remain in the “security zone.”
Any “permanent military presence” by Israel in southern Lebanon “is not compatible with the commitments made under the agreement,” was the response of a State Department official when asked about the matter by Agence France-Presse.
Source: Proto Thema
