Israeli air strike destroys house in southern Lebanon, killing seven

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, an Israeli aircraft hit a house near the town of Ansar in the Nabatieh district early on Saturday, destroying the building and killing seven occupants while three others were wounded. Rescue teams from the Islamic Message Scout Association, the Islamic Health Authority and Lebanon’s Civil Defence responded, removing debris and moving the dead and injured to medical facilities in Nabatieh.

The strike was part of a series of air attacks that also targeted the Ali al-Taher Ridge, a teachers’ training centre, the Husseini club in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and a valley between Ansar and Zarariyeh, the first such reach into southern Lebanon since the June cease-fire. Closer to the border, homes in Bint Jbeil were destroyed and machine-gun fire was directed at houses along the Kounine-Saf al-Hawa road, while an additional strike hit al-Mashaa neighbourhood in al-Mansouri. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem criticized Lebanese authorities for allowing the army to be exposed to ongoing Israeli pressure despite the US-Iran memorandum and a US-backed framework that calls for Hezbollah disarmament and Israeli withdrawal.