People inspect damage following Israeli bombardment on a building in the village of Saksakiyeh in southern Lebanon. AFP
Israeli drone strikes on the southern city of Nabatieh killed one Lebanese citizen and two Syrian nationals, while wounding three others, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The Israeli warplanes carried out two airstrikes that destroyed a house in the Ghamiqa neighbourhood of the town of Doueir in the Nabatieh district, the agency added.
Israeli airstrikes also bombarded towns in the Tyre district.
Late on Saturday, at least 14 people, including three Lebanese army personnel, were killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon.
In a statement, the Lebanese army said two officers and one soldier were killed when an Israeli strike hit a military vehicle on the road between Khardali and Nabatieh.
The Lebanese army condemned “the continuation of the deliberate and repeated brutal Israeli aggression... aimed at thwarting all efforts to reach a solution.”
United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said such Israeli attacks in Lebanese territory constitute “gross violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also denounced the Israeli “flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the attack is “a heinous crime and an attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese people.”
The Hezbollah resistance group said the Israeli strike targeting the Lebanese army is a “heinous crime,” accusing the Lebanese government of exposing the country to bloodshed through its “complete surrender to the enemy’s demands in Washington.”
More Israeli attacks
Israel also renewed forced displacement orders for five villages in southern and eastern Lebanon, forcing residents to move north of the Zahrani River.
Residents of the Christian town of Maghdousheh in the south received a recorded message from the Israeli occupation army warning that it would order evacuations and strike the town.
Hiram Hospital in southern Lebanon’s Tyre said one of its nurses was killed in an Israeli strike while on her way to work.
The Ministry of Health said two women were killed and 22 people wounded in an Israeli strike on Saksakiyeh in the south.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israel has killed at least 3,593 people in Lebanon since 2 March, with a further 10,990 wounded.
Official Lebanese army data showed that Israel has carried out 26 attacks in southern and eastern Lebanon since the escalation began on 2 March, killing 25 Lebanese soldiers.
Hezbollah retaliation
Hezbollah also announced a series of retaliatory attacks targeting Israeli occupation forces, including artillery shelling against a concentration of Israeli troops and military vehicles on the southeastern outskirts of Yahmar Al-Shaqif.
The group said it also targeted an Israeli military command post in the town of Naqoura using an “Ababil” drone, in addition to launching two drones at a gathering of Israeli soldiers on the southern outskirts of Hadatha.
Israel’s public broadcaster, citing the military, reported that four reserve soldiers were wounded in a booby-trapped drone attack in southern Lebanon.
Later on Saturday, the Israeli military announced the deaths of an officer and a soldier during operations in southern Lebanon. The latest fatalities bring the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the April ceasefire to 18, according to official figures.
Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, having advanced more than 10 kilometres during the current conflict in its deepest incursion since withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Lebanon is a critical part
Meanwhile, Lebanese Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal departed for Pakistan on Saturday for a visit linked to Islamabad’s mediation efforts between Iran and the United States, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
Iran has insisted that Lebanon be included in any agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the war in the Middle East that the US and Israel started on 28 February.
In a statement, the Lebanese army said Haykal was travelling “at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir.”
Pakistan hosted an initial round of talks between the United States and Iran, and Munir has since been involved in mediation efforts.
“Lebanon is a critical part of the negotiations,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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