BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon killed two people and wounded eleven on Friday according to the country’s health ministry.
The ministry confirmed an Israeli air strike on a vehicle outside a public hospital in Tibnin killed one person and wounded eleven others.
Another strike on a vehicle in Ansar killed one additional person during the same series of attacks.
The Israeli army stated it killed Ammar Hayel Qutaybani, alleging he was a Hezbollah commander operating in southern Lebanon.
It also claimed to have killed a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in Tibnin during the operations.
Israeli forces additionally struck a vessel allegedly used by Hezbollah for intelligence gathering on Israeli troops in Naqura.
These attacks occurred just one day after Israel bombed five towns that had received evacuation orders for residents.
The Israeli military stated Thursday’s strikes targeted several weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan force.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun strongly condemned the attacks and the silence of countries that had sponsored the ceasefire agreement.
He stated that such silence encourages further aggression against Lebanese sovereignty.
United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon warned the attacks endanger the fragile stability built since November of last year.
They called on Israel to refrain from further strikes and to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire intended to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s army reported that Thursday’s strikes brought Israel’s ceasefire violations to 4,500 incidents total.
They added that these continuous violations hinder efforts to disarm Hezbollah in the region.
Under US pressure, Beirut has ordered the Lebanese army to create a plan to disarm the Iran-backed group near the Israeli border by year’s end.
Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi stated last week that Lebanon’s army would fully disarm Hezbollah near the border within three months. – AFP
