Lebanese Army soldier walks past the rubble of a local branch of BDL, the country’s central bank, after Israeli strikes on Nabatieh, south Lebanon, on June 21, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-le Jour)
SOUTH LEBANON — Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed two people and wounded a child, as Israel reaffirmed plans to maintain its military presence in the area.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on two "Hezbollah members" in the Ali Taher area, a strategic hill south of Nabatieh that it had attempted to take before the truce came into force.
According to our correspondent in the south, shots targeted two vehicles in Nabatieh Fawqa, a town neighboring the heights of Ali Taher, without causing any casualties.
Shortly afterward, an Israeli drone struck a car traveling in the Dabsheh neighborhood of Kfar Roummane (Nabatieh district), near the same hill. The vehicle caught fire and its two occupants were reportedly killed, according to information gathered by our correspondent.
A child was also wounded when an Israeli army drone dropped a stun grenade on the town of Braasheet, in the Bint Jbeil district.
According to the latest figures published Tuesday by the health ministry, 4,192 people have been killed and 12,171 others injured as a result of Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2.
Elsewhere, in the Marjayoun district, 57 families from the border village of Ain Arab were forced to leave their homes again, just 24 hours after returning.
According to the local mukhtar, Othman al-Ahmad, contacted by our correspondent, an Israeli patrol consisting of several vehicles and a bulldozer entered the village Wednesday morning to order residents to leave, under threat of their homes being destroyed. The evacuation was still underway by the end of the day, the local official said.
At the same time, a unit of the Israeli army blocked the road connecting Ain Arab with the neighboring village of Wazzani and deployed near a house overlooking this route. Yet the previous day, the Lebanese Army had informed the mukhtar that the road had reopened, allowing residents to return to their land Wednesday morning.
Ahmad said he immediately reported the situation to the troops but had not received any response as of yet. Lebanese soldiers are nonetheless stationed about a kilometer from the village.
Katz rules out any withdrawal from southern Lebanon
At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, "even if there were a U.S. demand to that effect," adding that the 200,000 displaced Lebanese residents "will not return" (to their homes), according to the daily Haaretz.
"There will be neither civilians nor terrorists," Katz said. "Why? Because what happened in the past in the security zones, where there was also a civilian population, were explosive devices and attacks against soldiers. Therefore, we do not allow this. Soldiers inside, residents outside. The infrastructure is destroyed, houses are dangerous and in ruins. We are not withdrawing."
"We have achieved important results that began with the terrible blow of Oct. 7," the defense minister continued.
"Since then, all the people, the leaders and the army have acted with great determination. I know of no situation in which, without this terrible blow, anyone would have gone to deal with the tunnels in Gaza." Israel Katz also stated that Israel would not withdraw from territories conquered in Syria either.
"This is our security doctrine. The Israeli army must be on the enemy's side and protect the communities from inside their territory."
Reporting contributed by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.
