BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, a Lebanese medical source said, as Israel carried out air raids across the south, including the coastal city of Sidon.
Earlier, Israeli forces reportedly seized a municipal council member and a worker from the border town of Kfarshuba, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). The Israeli military, however, said it had “apprehended” two individuals who approached areas where its troops were operating.
A ceasefire in Lebanon that was meant to take effect in April was never implemented, while a new conditional truce announced after Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington last week was rejected by Hezbollah, with both sides continuing to exchange fire. The agreement did not include a halt to Israeli strikes.
According to a Lebanese medical source speaking anonymously, “the number of martyrs from the Israeli airstrikes in the town of Tayr Dibba is eight, and in Deir Qanun al-Nahr it is four.”
The National News Agency had earlier reported at least four Israeli strikes on Tayr Dibba and two strikes on Deir Qanun al-Nahr.
The agency also reported an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Sidon, a city that has been relatively spared from major Israeli attacks and currently hosts a large number of displaced people.
An AFP correspondent reported hearing an explosion in the area and later saw a burning car, as rescuers and firefighters rushed to the scene. The correspondent also witnessed rescue teams pulling two people from the targeted vehicle.
Hezbollah entered the conflict on March 2 in support of Iran, drawing Lebanon into the broader Middle East war.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes since March have killed nearly 3,700 people and displaced more than one million others.
Neither side has fully observed a ceasefire first announced in mid-April.
Iran has insisted that Lebanon must be included in any agreement to end the wider regional conflict, the prospects of which were further questioned after Tehran launched attacks on US bases in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait in response to American strikes on its territory.
Separately, the NNA reported that “an Israeli patrol took away Kfarshuba municipal council member Mohammad Hassan al-Hajj and worker Ahmad Salah Diab, taking them to an unknown location.”
It added that the two men were working to pump water to the town when the Israeli patrol stopped them and detained them.
The Israeli military told AFP that it had identified two “suspected individuals” approaching areas where Israeli troops were operating in southern Lebanon and later “apprehended” them, transferring them to Israeli territory for questioning.
Kfarshuba, a Sunni-majority border town, is among a few southern villages—mostly Christian—whose residents chose to remain despite Israeli evacuation warnings during the war.
On Tuesday, the association of Christian border villages in southern Lebanon urged the Lebanese government to open “safe humanitarian and medical corridors” to ensure access for citizens, aid, and medical teams to affected and isolated areas.
They warned of a “dangerous decline in health services” due to the closure or disruption of health centers and clinics, noting that most roads leading to these villages are now either cut off or extremely dangerous.
The latest incident came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people in and around the southern city of Tyre, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Israeli military also issued evacuation warnings for three southern Lebanese towns on Wednesday.
The National News Agency further reported overnight strikes on Nabatieh, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, which is now largely deserted.
Nabatieh lies near areas recently entered by Israeli forces, including the medieval Beaufort Castle overlooking the district.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had targeted Israeli troops operating in the same area.