An Israeli airstrike targeted the village of Deir Amis in the Tyr district, southern Lebanon, on Friday after a warning from the Israeli army urging residents to evacuate the area.
In a statement, the Israeli army stated that “Hezbollah activities and shootings from your village compel the Israeli army to act against it in your residential area,” ensuring that they do not intend to target civilians and urging people to leave the village by more than 1,000 meters.
Tensions remain high despite a three-week extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, regularly undermined by mutual accusations of violations.
Hezbollah has once again accused Israel of not respecting the ceasefire and has stated its right to retaliate against Israeli “aggressions.” Through deputy Ali Fayad, the movement criticized the extension as having “no meaning” in light of persistent “hostile acts,” according to a party statement.
In place since April 17 but regularly violated, the ceasefire was initially set to expire on Sunday. The conflict has already resulted in over 2,400 deaths and one million displaced persons in Lebanon since March 2.
Furthermore, on Friday, the Israeli army reported that Hezbollah had shot down one of its drones in southern Lebanon, shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire extension.
“Earlier, an Israeli army drone was shot down in southern Lebanon after a small surface-to-air missile was fired by the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” stated the army in a release, adding that the incident was under investigation.
