A burnt-out car in the locality of Safad el-Battikh (Nabatieh), South Lebanon, on December 14, 2025, after being targeted by an Israeli drone. (Credit: Photo obtained by our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah)
SOUTH LEBANON — Three people were killed Sunday in separate Israeli drone strikes carried out in South Lebanon, according to our correspondent in the area.
The Israeli military said it had targeted three Hezbollah members allegedly involved in "attempts to rebuild the pro-Iranian party’s infrastructure."
Israeli forces also claimed on Sunday evening to have killed “around 40 fighters in some thirty different villages in southern Lebanon since the beginning of October,” according to a message posted on X by the Hebrew state army’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee.
According to him, these deaths “add to more than 380 fighters eliminated since the cease-fire took effect” on Nov. 27, accusing Hezbollah of violating the truce over 1,900 times. According to data analyzed by L’Orient-Le Jour, Israel has breached the agreement over 12,000 times, killing 343 people, including 136 civilians, between Nov. 27, 2024, and Nov. 14, 2025.
Shortly before noon, an Israeli raid targeted a motorcycle in the Yater–Tayr Harfa area in the Bint Jbeil district, leaving one dead and one wounded, according to the Health Ministry.
About an hour later, a car was hit by two missiles in Safad al-Battikh, in the same district, near the Souan pond. The driver, Ihsan Zeineddine, was critically wounded and died of his injuries, our correspondent reports — a toll also confirmed by the Health Ministry.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a third drone strike targeted a car in Jouaya, in the Sour district, killing its driver. The victim, Zakaria al-Hajj, a member of the village municipal council, succumbed to his wounds shortly after the attack, according to our correspondent.
In a post on X, the Israeli Arabic-language army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said that "since the early hours of the morning, the Israeli army has targeted three Hezbollah members in different areas of South Lebanon."
Later, Adraee also described Zakaria el-Hajj as “an important Hezbollah operative,” accusing him — without providing concrete evidence — of “activating agents within Lebanese security services” and of “working to suppress critics of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
These individuals, he said, were "involved in attempts to rebuild Hezbollah infrastructure," operations he claims amount to a "violation" of the cease-fire agreement reached in November 2024 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Several incidents also took place in South Lebanon since Saturday night: On Sunday morning, an Israeli drone dropped three bombs on two excavators in a neighborhood in the village of Shebaa (Hasbaya district).
Around 9 a.m., the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reportedly asked Shebaa residents not to use their heavy machinery for any type of work at Israel's request.
A UNIFIL source noted that "it does not appear the organization took any such measure through its liaison mechanisms in the past day", adding they could not provide a definitive answer without more details.
Also in the morning, the Israeli army fired machine guns in the Mazraat Bastara area, near the village of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), from the Ramta outpost.
In the afternoon, an Israeli army drone dropped explosive bombs on a house in the so-called al-Salem area, near "the forest road," on the southern outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil district), our correspondent reports.
Lebanese Army searches house in Yanouh
The Israeli military also intensified drone flights overnight and into the morning over the Sour area, especially over the village of Yanouh, where a dispute had erupted the previous day between residents and both the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL following a house search, as well as over the village of Khiam (Marjayoun district) and the entire Nabatieh district.
After midnight, Yanouh’s municipality published a statement saying the house had been searched twice, once by UNIFIL and once by the Lebanese Army, following Israeli threats, stressing that "no traces of weapons or ammunition were found there."
The municipality said the searches were "conducted with the consent of the owner, who lives there with his family." It also called on UNIFIL and the international community to “shoulder their responsibilities and put pressure on the Israelis to stop their aggression," while also saluting "the Lebanese Army, which acts responsibly and protects the population."
The Lebanese Army Command confirmed Sunday in a statement that "it was determined there are neither weapons nor ammunition inside the Yanouh building" searched on Saturday.
Israel has recently intensified its airstrikes in South Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming in violation of the truce. Lebanese authorities regularly accuse the Israeli state of violating the cease-fire by continuing strikes and maintaining military presence at five strategic points in the south.
According to the Health Ministry, more than 330 people have been killed and 945 wounded since the cease-fire.
Reporting by our regional correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah.
