The Israeli Bayyad Blida military outpost, seen in the background from the Lebanese village of Blida, Marjayoun district, April 16, 2025. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Israeli army killed a municipal employee as he was on shift in his southern Lebanese village of Nabatieh Fawqa, tending to the town's water pumping system, in a drone strike on Thursday afternoon.
According to information obtained by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South and a statement released by the head of Nabatieh Fawqa's municipal council, the victim, whose name was Mahmoud Atwi, was killed by an Israeli drone as he was walking toward the Ali al-Taher Woods, on the village's outskirts.
"The attack targeted a civilian facility belonging to the municipality," municipal head Zein Ghandour explained. "It happened while municipal employee Mahmoud Hassan Atwi was on site during his working hours to operate the well and pump water to homes and residential areas."
The Israeli army took responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed a Hezbollah "operative" in the "area of Mount Shaqif," and claiming the victim was "attempting to reconstruct a site used for Hezbollah's offense and defense management."
"The activity inside the site is considered a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and has been targeted several times in recent weeks," the Israeli army statement, published on Telegram, reads. There has been no comment from the cease-fire monitoring committee, made up of representatives from UNIFIL, the U.S., France, Lebanon and Israel, and which is tasked with handling violations of the cease-fire agreement.
Israel has now killed at least 167 people in Lebanon since agreeing to a truce with Hezbollah in November, according to L'Orient Today's count.
Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah.
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