Lebanon says Israel strikes in south kill two

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed two people in the south on Wednesday, the latest attacks despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

An “Israeli enemy drone” struck a car in the town of Ain Baal in the coastal district of Tyre, the ministry said.

The Israeli army said its forces struck a Hezbollah operative in the Tyre area, saying he was “responsible for establishing the necessary infrastructure for the production of precise surface-to-surface missiles in the area”.

The health ministry later said an Israeli strike on the southern town of Yater “killed one person and wounded another”.

One killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon: ministry

An official from Yater said the strike killed a man who was using a bulldozer to remove debris from his home which was damaged during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the state-run National News Agency reported.

It was the third consecutive day of Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Israel said it killed two Hezbollah members over the previous two days.

Israel has kept up strikes on its northern neighbour despite a November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic”.

The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.

The truce was based on a United Nations Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.

Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw its remaining troops.

US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said on Tuesday that Lebanon still has “more” to do in disarming Hezbollah following the war.