Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 19 people on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced, while Hezbollah reported clashes with Israeli soldiers despite a ceasefire in effect. “An Israeli airstrike on the town of Deir Qanoune al-Nahr, in the district of Tyre, resulted in an initial toll of 10 martyrs including three children and three women, as well as three wounded including a child,” the ministry said in a statement, describing the attack as a “massacre.” A woman was among the nine people killed in other strikes across the south, which left 29 wounded, including six women and a child.
A strike on Maachouq, north of Tyre, caused the collapse of the last two floors of a building and damaged nearby buildings as well as several parked cars nearby. A strike on the same locality on Monday had destroyed a healthcare center run by Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. According to the official Lebanese National News Agency (Ani), a strike extensively destroyed a district in Nabatiyeh housing shops, an old mosque, and traditional houses.
The Israeli army had previously called on residents of 12 Lebanese localities to evacuate, including 11 in the south of the country and one in the Bekaa region (east). It then renewed the same warning. In a separate statement, it announced intercepting a drone that had crossed the border from Lebanon.
Clashes in the south
Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed to have carried out several attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, as well as against Iron Dome batteries (part of the Israeli air defense system) in northern Israel. The movement also claimed multiple attacks against Israeli forces in border areas in the south.
The Lebanese Civil Defense announced on Tuesday losing contact with seven Lebanese after an Israeli patrol incursion on the outskirts in the Hasbaya region. The Israeli army later released four of them, with the other three remaining “captives of the Israeli enemy,” the Civil Defense added.
Israel and Hezbollah continue their clashes despite the ceasefire, and the Israeli army has already carried out strikes beyond the “blue line,” delineating a zone about ten kilometers deep in southern Lebanon where Israeli soldiers continue operations, claiming to protect the population of northern Israel from the gunfire of the pro-Iranian movement. Since the start of the war, Israeli strikes have claimed the lives of over 3,000 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. On the Israeli side, 20 soldiers and a contractor working for the army have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the war on March 2.
