Israeli drone attack near Beirut kills at least one, injures three others
The air raid on Thursday hit a vehicle on a busy motorway in the Khaldeh area, about 12km south of Beirut.
The Israeli military said it targeted 'military sites and weapons depots' in the area.
Bombing an area near the Lebanese capital marks another escalation by Israel, which has been carrying out near-daily bombardment in Lebanon since it reached a truce with Hezbollah in November of last year. The identities of the victims of the attack have not been released.
Reporting from outside Beirut, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr noted that the Israeli air raid took place during rush hour, with many people making their way from Beirut to south Lebanon.
'Israel is also acting with little restraint. The Lebanese state wants these attacks to stop, but the state has little leverage. Hezbollah, too, if it does respond, could trigger a harsh Israeli retaliation,' Khodr said.
'We don't see a wide-scale Israeli bombardment like we saw last year, targeting areas where Hezbollah has influence, but we see these attacks happening almost on a daily basis.'
Later on Thursday, the Israeli military carried out a wave of air strikes across south Lebanon, with heavy bombardment targeting the outskirts of Zawtar al-Charqiyeh, near Nabatieh, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported.
Lebanese officials often condemn such attacks and call on the United States and France – the two sponsors of last year's ceasefire – to pressure Israel to end its violations. But diplomatic efforts have failed to stem the ceasefire breaches, amid unwillingness by the US and its Western allies to hold Israel to account. (Agencies)
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