A Lebanese soldier sits on top of a military vehicle outside the municipality building of the southern Lebanese border village of Blida in the aftermath of an Israeli army raid on the village. AFP
Aoun ordered the army to "confront any Israeli incursion into liberated southern territory, in defence of Lebanese territory and the safety of citizens", during a meeting with the army chief, according to a statement from the presidency.
Israeli troops killed a Lebanese municipal worker on Thursday during a raid on a border village in the south, state media reported.
"In a grave and unprecedented attack, an Israeli enemy force penetrated the village of Blida at nearly 1:30 am (1130 GMT), more than one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the border, supported by several vehicles," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
"The force stormed the Blida municipality building, where employee Ibrahim Salameh was sleeping, and enemy soldiers proceeded to kill him," it said.
Village residents cited by NNA said the raid lasted several hours and that Israeli forces withdrew at dawn.
In the nearby border village of Adaisseh, NNA reported that Israeli forces blew up a hall for religious ceremonies at dawn.
Aoun considered the attack as part of “a series of Israeli acts of aggression,” noting that it came just after a meeting of the committee tasked with monitoring the November 2024 ceasefire agreement.
He stressed that the committee “should not merely document violations, but work to stop them by pressuring Israel to comply with the provisions of the agreement and end its breaches of Lebanese sovereignty.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the incident.
In a post on X, he said the Israeli incursion into the town of Blida, and the direct killing of a municipal employee while on duty, constituted “a blatant attack on Lebanese state institutions and their sovereignty.”
Despite last year's ceasefire, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular air strikes, which have recently intensified.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the UN rights commission, Jeremy Laurence, said Israeli forces had killed 111 civilians in Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect.
This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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