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Israel continues southern Lebanon strikes despite Iran-US deal
Israeli forces on Wednesday carried out airstrikes on several areas in south Lebanon, state media reported, despite a peace agreement between Iran and the United States, that includes halt to regime’s attacks on Lebanon.
Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli warplanes launched raids targeting the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area and the eastern outskirts of neighboring town Kfar Tebnit.
The Israelis also launched a drone strike on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area, NNA reported.
While violence has declined in Lebanon since a US-Iran agreement was announced on Monday, Israeli strikes on the south have killed at least five people since then, according to NNA.
The reduction in violence has allowed some south Lebanon residents to return and inspect their towns and villages, but the Lebanese army has urged locals to delay their return, citing “the risk of Israeli violations and attacks.” Iran's military threatened on Tuesday to respond to Israel after strikes in southern Lebanon killed several people. "If the child-killing army of the Zionist regime does not put an end to its acts of aggression in southern Lebanon, it should await a harsh response from the powerful Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said the Iranian military's central command Khatam al-Anbiya. It added that Israel had violated the ceasefire in Lebanon "84 times" since the deal was announced on Monday.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said on Tuesday that an end to the conflict would be incomplete "without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories it occupied in this war.”
"Any military attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon from now on and the continued occupation of Lebanese territories from now on will be considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding in our view," he said.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the regime’s forces would remain in Lebanon “for as long as necessary.”
Israeli attacks on Lebanon began in early March after Lebanon’s resistance group Hezbollah launched military operations against the regime in response to the regime’s aggression against Iran.
The war has claimed at least 3,800 lives since March 2, according to the latest figures released by Lebanon's Health Ministry.