Four people, including two women, were killed and 20 others were injured after the Israeli military launched strikes on southern Lebanon, its health ministry has said.
The Israeli military said it was carrying out strikes after Hezbollah launched drones at its soldiers, and urged residents of the town of Arab Salim to evacuate.
Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed in south Lebanon’s Nabatieh al-Fawqa and two women were killed in Arab Salim nearby.
The 20 wounded were in several locations and included women and three children.
“Terrorists from the Hezbollah terrorist organisation launched two drones towards IDF soldiers operating in the Security Zone in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement, adding that there were no reports of Israeli soldiers wounded.
“This constitutes a blatant violation by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation. In response, the IDF is now striking in southern Lebanon,” it added.
In another message early this morning, the Israeli military warned residents of Arab Salim to leave ahead of imminent attacks.
“You are situated near a facility belonging to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, against which the IDF will be operating,” it wrote in Arabic on Telegram.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in March after Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel, which responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.
Violence had lessened since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader conflict in June and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon later that month.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared “security zone” around 10km deep inside Lebanon along the border.
Authorities in Lebanon said that Israeli strikes killed four people in the country’s south and east yesterday.
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