Israeli drone strike injures 5 people in southern Lebanon, health ministry says
Five people were injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selm on Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said.
On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes injured 36 people in Nabatieh, a major town in south Lebanon, according to the health ministry. The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh.
The Israeli army also detained three people on Wednesday in southern border town of Maroun al-Ras, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
Israel has carried out strikes in southern Lebanon although Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel agreed on a ceasefire in late November, ending a conflict that killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war in 2023.
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Israel has not yet fully withdrawn its forces from southern Lebanon and has said it will keep operating against any threat posed to the state of Israel and its citizens.
Following the strikes on Nabatieh, senior Hezbollah official Mohammad Raad said that the Lebanese people's right to resist Israeli attacks is a "sacred and legitimate right".
He said this right should be exercised at the time and place deemed necessary to protect the country's security.
The U.S. said on Sunday the agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which included an initial 60-day period for the withdrawal of Israeli troops, would remain in effect until Feb. 18, an extension to the Jan. 26 deadline previously agreed.
On Tuesday, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged U.S. General Jasper Jeffers, who chairs the committee monitoring the ceasefire, to pressure Israel into implementing the ceasefire according to international law.
Mikati also thanked the International Red Cross for its efforts in securing the release on Tuesday of nine Lebanese who had been detained by Israel.
Israeli forces killed at least 24 people and wounded at least 141 in southern Lebanon on Sunday and Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as thousands of people tried to return to their homes in the area in defiance of Israeli military orders.
This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.
