1 dead, 20 wounded after Israeli forces attack south Lebanon
BEIRUT : Lebanon's health ministry said a woman was killed and 20 other people were wounded in Israeli strikes today in the country's south, as Israel's military said some raids targeted Hezbollah sites.
Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, particularly in the south, since a Nov 27 ceasefire meant to end over a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war that left Hezbollah severely weakened.
'The Israel enemy strike on an apartment in Nabatiyeh led to a preliminary toll of one woman killed' and 13 other people wounded, the ministry said in an updated statement carried by the official National News Agency.
The NNA said an Israeli drone targeted the apartment.
The agency earlier reported 'a wave of successive heavy strikes' in several other areas in the Nabatiyeh region that the health ministry said wounded seven people.
An Israeli army statement said fighter jets struck a site that Hezbollah used 'to manage its fire and defence array in the area of the Beaufort Ridge', near Nabatiyeh and the Israel border.
It said the site was 'part of a significant underground project that was completely taken out of use' by the raids.
The military said it 'identified rehabilitation attempts made by Hezbollah beforehand and struck terror infrastructure sites in the area', calling the actions 'a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon'.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned the strikes and said Israel continued 'to disregard regional and international resolutions and calls to stop the violence and escalation in the region', urging 'effective action from the international community'.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement called the strikes 'a blatant violation of national sovereignty and the cessation of hostilities arrangements' and a threat to stability.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30km from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the area.
Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five locations in south Lebanon that it deems strategic.
In a letter to the United Nations requesting a one-year renewal of the mandate of the United Nations interim force in Lebanon which expires in August, the foreign ministry demanded 'Israel's withdrawal from all Lebanese territory it occupies and a stop to its ongoing violations'.
Yesterday, Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed two people, with the Israeli military saying it targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
12 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Is Gaza's ‘humanitarian city' plan ethnic cleansing? Mediators struggle as death toll rises, hostages remain in limbo
GAZA CITY, July 15 — Stuttering Gaza ceasefire talks entered a second week on yesterday, with mediators seeking to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, as more than 20 people were killed across the Palestinian territory. The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of hostages and a 60-day ceasefire after 21 months of fighting. An official with knowledge of the talks said they were 'ongoing' in Doha yesterday, telling AFP: 'Discussions are currently focused on the proposed maps for the deployment of Israeli forces within Gaza.' 'Mediators are actively exploring innovative mechanisms to bridge the remaining gaps and maintain momentum in the negotiations,' the source added on condition of anonymity. Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who wants to see the Palestinian militant group destroyed — of being the main obstacle. 'Netanyahu is skilled at sabotaging one round of negotiations after another, and is unwilling to reach any agreement,' the group wrote on Telegram. In Gaza, the civil defence agency said at least 22 people were killed yesterday in the latest Israeli strikes in and around Gaza City and in Khan Yunis in the south. An Israeli military statement said troops had destroyed 'buildings and terrorist infrastructure' used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City's Shujaiya and Zeitun areas. The Al-Quds Brigades — the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas — released footage yesterday that it said showed its fighters firing missiles at an Israeli army command and control centre near Shujaiya. The military later yesterday said three soldiers — aged 19, 20 and 21 — 'fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip' and died in hospital yesterday. Another from the same battalion was severely injured. An anti-Israel cartoon mocking Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is displayed at Palestine Square in central Tehran on July, 13, 2025. — AFP pic Talks 'ongoing' US President Donald Trump said he was still hopeful of securing a truce deal, telling reporters on Sunday night: 'We are talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next week.' Hamas's top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, and the leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad held a 'consultative meeting' in Doha on Sunday evening to 'coordinate visions and positions', a Palestinian source with knowledge of the talks told AFP. 'Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators continue their efforts that make Israel present a modified withdrawal map that would be acceptable,' they added. On Saturday, the same source said Hamas rejected Israeli proposals to keep troops in more than 40 percent of Gaza, as well as plans to move Palestinians into an enclave on the border with Egypt. A senior Israeli political official countered by accusing Hamas of inflexibility and trying to deliberately scupper the talks by 'clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement'. Encampments sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict are pitched near the Sheikh Radwan wastewater collection pond, which is nearing its filling capacity, in Gaza City on July 14, 2025. — AFP pic Pressure Netanyahu has said he would be ready to enter talks for a more lasting ceasefire once a deal for a temporary truce is agreed, but only when Hamas lays down its arms. He is under pressure to wrap up the war, with military casualties rising and with public frustration mounting at both the continued captivity of the hostages taken on October 7 and a perceived lack of progress in the conflict. Politically, Netanyahu's fragile governing coalition is holding, for now, but he denies being beholden to a minority of far-right ministers in prolonging an increasingly unpopular conflict. He also faces a backlash over the feasibility, cost and ethics of a plan to build a so-called 'humanitarian city' from scratch in southern Gaza to house Palestinians if and when a ceasefire takes hold. Israel's security establishment is reported to be unhappy with the plan, which the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert have described as a 'concentration camp'. 'If they (Palestinians) will be deported there into the new 'humanitarian city', then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing,' Olmert was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper late on Sunday. Hamas's attack on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. A total of 251 hostages were taken that day, of whom 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's military reprisals have killed 58,386 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. — AFP
The Sun
13 hours ago
- The Sun
Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in east Lebanon amid ceasefire tensions
JERUSALEM: Israel's military confirmed strikes on Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in eastern Lebanon, marking another violation of the November ceasefire. The attacks targeted training compounds in the Beqaa region, which Israel claims were used to plan operations against its troops. The Israeli Air Force stated the strikes aimed to disrupt Hezbollah's efforts to rebuild its capabilities. Defence Minister Israel Katz called the operation a warning to both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, emphasising Israel's readiness to counter any threats. Under the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw north of the Litani River, while Israel was to fully pull out its troops. However, Israel maintains a presence in five strategic locations, further straining the fragile truce. Hezbollah has yet to respond to the latest strikes. The group, backed by Iran, has faced significant losses since the two-month war last year but continues efforts to regroup. - AFP
Free Malaysia Today
17 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Israel to issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox students
Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a main road during a protest in Bnei Brak, Israel, opposing military recruitment and conscription. (EPA Images pic) TEL AVIV : Israel's military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a supreme court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments. The supreme court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13% it represents today. Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel's 21% Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve. A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition to craft a compromise. The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel's armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran. Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu's brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardise their religious identity. The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programmes to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
