Two dead in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
Collected photo
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Lebanon said Israeli strikes
killed two people in the south on Wednesday as Israel said it targeted
Hezbollah operatives, the latest attacks despite a ceasefire with the
Iran-backed militant group.
An “Israeli enemy drone” struck a car in the town of Ain Baal in the Tyre
region, killing one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said, later adding that a
separate strike on the Yater area near the border “killed one person and
wounded another”.
The Israeli army said its forces struck a Hezbollah operative in the Tyre
area, saying he was “responsible for establishing the necessary infrastructure
for the production of precise surface-to-surface missiles in the area”.
It also said it “eliminated a commander” in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force
in the Yater area.
An official from Yater said that strike killed a man who was using a
bulldozer to remove debris from his home which was damaged during the conflict
between Israel and Hezbollah, the state-run National News Agency reported.
It was the third consecutive day of Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Israel has kept up raids on its northern neighbour despite a November truce
that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including
two months of full-blown war.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of
Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to
its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops
in five areas that it deems “strategic”.
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces have
withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.
The truce was based on a United Nations Security Council resolution that
says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms
in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end
its attacks and withdraw its remaining troops.
On Tuesday, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said Lebanon still
had “more” to do in disarming Hezbollah following the war.