Israel bombs south Lebanon with phosphorus; it has killed more than 2,700 people in Lebanon since March 2

Israel has killed 2,700 people since March 2, according to the latest figures published by the Health Ministry, while the Israeli state continued its bombings in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, firing phosphorous munitions on at least two villages.

According to our correspondent, Israeli artillery used these incendiary munitions — whose use is normally prohibited by international humanitarian law when deployed against civilian targets — in Kounine and Beit Yahoun, in the Bint Jbeil district.

At the same time, other artillery shells hit Braasheet and Kounin (Bint Jbeil), as well as Qaaqayet al-Jisr (Nabatieh), where ambulances were dispatched following reports of injuries.

These latest casualties add to the already heavy toll, which has reached 2,702 dead and 8,311 wounded. During the day, the Lebanese Red Cross continued its efforts to recover the bodies of four Syrian nationals killed Saturday in southern Lebanon. Emergency responders tried on Monday to retrieve their remains, but were unable to reach the area because of the intensity of the artillery bombardment.

Over the weekend, about 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes. During the previous war, which lasted 13 months, the death toll the day after the November 2024 truce was around 4,000 dead and 16,500 wounded.

Two Hezbollah members killed

The Israeli air force carried out several strikes in the south targeting Kafra, Tibnin in the Bint Jbeil district, Majdal Zoun and Mansouri (Sour), Qabrikha (Marjayoun), Zawtar al-Sharqieh (multiple times), and Qaaqayet al-Jisr (Nabatieh), our correspondent reports.

The strikes began more than two hours after an evacuation notice was issued to the residents of Jibsheet and Srifa. The missile fired at the latter locality in the morning apparently did not explode.

Zibdine and Harouf in the Nabatieh district, then Mansouri, Qleileh, Hanine, and Bayyada (Sour) were also shelled by Israeli artillery in the afternoon. On Monday, the air force had bombed 23 towns and villages, while 19 localities were under artillery fire, according to our correspondent’s summary. A loud explosion was also heard, caused by a demolition by the Israeli army in Ainata (Bint Jbeil).

In the morning, Israeli soldiers said they had killed two Hezbollah-affiliated members in southern Lebanon using a drone that fired at them while they were riding a motorcycle. They also announced that they had destroyed a building from which the group had fired on one of its tanks. Troops said Hezbollah fired several mortar shells at an area where Israeli soldiers were operating, in two separate incidents that took place in the past few hours.

Lebanese soldiers wounded

Overnight, Zawtar al -Sharqieh toward Mayfadoun, the outskirts of Nabatieh Fawqa, Kfar Tibnit (Nabatieh), and Rshaf (Bint Jbeil) were bombed by the air force, while the state’s artillery shelled Haris (Bint Jbeil) and Haniyeh (Sour). The Lebanese Army announced that an officer and a soldier were lightly wounded in an Israeli strike in Kafra (Bint Jbeil), as they were moving between several military positions.

For its part, Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks against Israeli positions in Bayyada, in the Sour district. According to a statement by the party, its fighters hit a Merkava tank with a guided missile, as well as a gathering of military vehicles using a drone.

The pro-Iranian group also said it targeted an Israeli army helicopter with a surface-to-air missile and fired artillery at a concentration of soldiers. In the Marjayoun district, the group also said it attacked an Israeli military vehicle using a drone in Qantara and struck a gathering of other vehicles in Deir Siryan with a salvo of rockets.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah claimed six other attacks against Israeli soldiers and tanks positioned in southern Lebanon, including one at night on another Merkava tank in Bayyada (Sour), saying the tank caught fire. It also announced it had hit with missiles vehicles and troops in the same locality.

The group reported four more exploding drone attacks Tuesday morning: one at 7 a.m. on a Merkava tank at Qouzah (Bint Jbeil), another at 9 a.m. on an Israeli D9 bulldozer in Rshaf (Bint Jbeil), a third at 9:15 a.m. in Khallet Raj, in the village of Deir Siryan (Marjayoun), and a fourth on a vehicle towing the damaged bulldozer.