Lebanese president condemns Israeli attack on Msayleh as a ‘blatant aggression’ against civilian infrastructure.
Israeli air attacks on a southern Lebanese village have killed one person and wounded seven others, temporarily severing a key route connecting Beirut to the country’s south, in the latest near-daily violation by Israel of the November 2024 ceasefire it signed with Hezbollah.
The strikes hit Msayleh village in the early hours of Saturday morning, targeting a site that sold heavy machinery and destroying numerous vehicles.
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A Syrian national was killed and seven others were wounded when a passing vegetable truck was caught in the attack, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
Separately, Israeli drones were reported flying over the capital, Beirut, and southern suburbs since early on Saturday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack, describing it as an assault on civilian infrastructure. “Once again, southern Lebanon is under fire from a blatant Israeli aggression against civilian facilities, without any justification or pretext,” he said, adding that the strike was particularly alarming given it came after the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Israel’s military said the strike targeted equipment intended to rebuild infrastructure for Hezbollah. The Israeli military has claimed that such operations are necessary to prevent Hezbollah from restoring its military capabilities.
The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, said at the start of October that Israeli strikes had killed 103 verified civilians in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect.
Israeli forces remain stationed at several positions inside Lebanese territory.
The incident marks the latest in an almost daily pattern of Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory since the United States brokered a ceasefire. Days earlier, Israeli drone strikes killed two men it claimed were Hezbollah operatives.
Lebanese authorities said on Friday they had foiled an Israeli plot to carry out bombings and assassinations at a commemoration for late former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel, arresting several suspects.
Hezbollah has rejected mounting pressure to disarm. Speaking at the tomb of Hassan Nasrallah, current secretary-general Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters that Hezbollah would never relinquish its weapons.
US special envoy Tom Barrack told media last month that convincing Hezbollah to disarm “is the job of the Lebanese government”, though he acknowledged the group’s legitimacy as a political party complicates the issue.
The Lebanese government, under intense US and Israeli pressure, tasked the army in early September with preparing a plan to disarm the group.
The original war killed at least 4,000 people in Lebanon and caused an estimated $11bn in damage. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. Fighting erupted when Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel on October 8, 2023, one day after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza.
The continuing strikes in Lebanon come as a separate ceasefire in Gaza has allowed thousands of Palestinians to return to destroyed homes, while the UN outlined plans to deliver vital humanitarian aid across the devastated territory.
