Lebanese president calls new Israeli raids ‘dangerous escalation’
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of a “persistent pattern” of targeting civilian sites following a string of strikes on the country’s south, urging the United States and the international community to help stop the attacks.
In a statement, Aoun said Israel’s attacks are a “dangerous escalation” that go “beyond the alleged military targets to purely civilian administrations and health centers”.
He cited the levelling of Ghandour Hospital and “severe” damage to the Finance Ministry in Nabatieh governate.
Aoun called on the US to take “urgent action to stop these violations and hold their perpetrators accountable”.
His remarks came after at least four people were killed on Sunday in new Israeli strikes.
Israel claimed it retaliated drone attacks by the Hezbollah resistance group which targeted its soldiers in south Lebanon.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported two people killed in south Lebanon's Nabatieh al-Fawqa and two women killed in nearby Arab Salim.
It said 20 other people including several women and three children were wounded in those locations as well as in the city of Nabatieh and the town of Kfar Rumman.
On Friday, Israeli strikes in the country's south and east killed four people including an 18-year-old woman. Earlier this week, Israel also said it had taken "operational control" of the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge near Nabatieh.
The attacks come despite ongoing direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanese government to end the regime’s attacks on the Arab country.
Hezbollah on Saturday said the ongoing “occupation, assaults, killings and destruction” shows that the path of direct negotiations and a framework agreement with the regime has failed.