Beirut: Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli strikes on Friday struck at least five villages in the south, triggering an exodus of residents toward the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut.
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike hit a centre run by the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Hanuf, killing six people, including three paramedics. In the coastal city of Tyre, attacks on a residential district wounded 37 people and caused extensive damage near the ancient ruins, an AFP correspondent reported.
“They destroyed the entire neighbourhood,” said Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who was wounded in the leg. “They are emptying the south of its population… It’s a real occupation. We want a solution.”
The fresh strikes come after envoys fr
om Israel and Lebanon met in Washington for talks — the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades — following earlier discussions last month. Iran-backed Hezbollah has opposed the negotiations and continued to carry out attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, including areas it controls, even after a ceasefire took effect on April 17.
Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed a 45-day extension of the truce. In a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency, it said: “The extension of the ceasefire and the establishment of a US-facilitated security track provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability.”
Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including over 400 deaths recorded since the ceasefire took effect. The Lebanese military has also reported 19 soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since fighting with Hezbollah resumed.
On Friday evening, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticised the Shia movement, saying: “Enough of these irresponsible adventures that serve foreign interests.”