Lebanon state media says Israeli strike on south kills 4, including 3 women

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker and a male Syrian worker were killed when “an Israeli drone targeted the car” they were travelling in as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

Israel has kept up intermittent strikes on south Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area, despite the two-week-old truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives, with both sides accusing the other of violations.

An agreement signed by the United States and Iran on ending the regional war last month also established a ceasefire in Lebanon, which took effect on June 21.

Days later after talks in Washington, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a US-backed framework agreement aiming to pave the way for a permanent end to hostilities.

Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel, has rejected the framework.

The deal calls for the disarmament of the Iran-backed group, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army there, starting with two “pilot” areas, but without specifying a timeline for the pull-out.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s military would maintain its presence in southern Lebanon “as long as necessary in order to protect the residents of the north and all the citizens of Israel”.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed some 4,300 people.

According to the United Nations, more than 640,000 displaced people have returned home in Lebanon since June 22, after authorities said the conflict had displaced more than one million.