The New Indian Express ·
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon village kill 11: State media
KFAR RUMMAN: Israeli airstrikes overnight killed 11 people in a south Lebanon village, including two infants, Lebanese state media said Monday, a day after separate raids left seven dead.
Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after it said Thursday it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.
Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
But on Monday Israel's foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of "repeated drone attacks" and "attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon".
The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said nine people were killed in a strike overnight that destroyed a three-storey residential building in Kfar Rumman, near Nabatieh.
Two rescuers in the area whose car was targeted were also killed, the agency said.
An AFP photographer saw the building completely destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.
Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning in search of other victims.
Kfar Rumman villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.
"Since we returned here, we've lived in fear," Fouad Chakaron told AFP.
He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by "peaceful people with no connection to anyone".
Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP's photographer said.
Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate strike in nearby Deir Zahrani.
The army said an explosive drone had been launched towards its forces and "Hezbollah's terrorist activity compels the IDF to act forcefully against it".
It did not specify whether any Israeli soldiers were wounded.
The military warned in a message in Arabic that it was targeting a "Hezbollah terrorist facility", and said those who remained in the area were at risk.
The NNA reported that the Israeli strike destroyed the building in Deir Zahrani 22 minutes after the warning was issued.
On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.
Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
