Israeli Airstrikes in Southern Lebanon Kill Seven, Violate Ceasefire Agreement and Target State Facilities
BEIRUT: The Israeli military has stepped up its airborne assaults throughout southern Lebanon, sparking international condemnations after a new round of airstrikes killed at least seven people and injured more than two dozen others, despite the existing understanding on a ceasefire.
Arab media and Lebanese government sources say Israeli warplanes struck heavily in the town of Kfar Rumman and Arab Salim in the Nabatieh district.
A woman died in a direct strike from a plane that hit a house in the Arab Salim neighborhood, which was occupied by two others who were also injured. Other strikes were launched to hit the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, in which several casualties were reported, and another attack resulted in significant damage to civilian buildings and administration buildings. The escalation also resulted in significant damage to key infrastructure such as Hospital and Government Buildings. In Nabatieh al-Fawqa, a local hospital facility was completely destroyed and in the central part of the town, a historic building housing regional offices of the Lebanese Ministry of Finance and Agriculture was severely damaged by heavy bombing.
The structures of several nearby dwellings, commercial shops and medical structures were reduced to rubble, affecting women and children among the injured. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun strongly denounced the renewed Israeli military escalation, which breaches all red lines.
The President Aoun said that these continuing hostilities are a gross violation of the cessation of hostilities framework agreement. The violence has now broadened from military flashpoints to attack civilian state institutions, public service facilities, and medical facilities, he added.President Aoun demanded from the United States and the international community that they “act now” in order to stop the continuous escalation and punish the perpetrators, attributing full responsibility for it to Israel.