Deadly strikes on southern Lebanon: ‘A clear message against the negotiation process and US efforts to implement the agreement,’ President Aoun says | LIVE

Aoun: Israeli violations are “a clear message” regarding negotiations

President Joseph Aoun denounced “the Israeli attacks that continue in South Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area and its surroundings.”

In a message posted on X by the Lebanese presidency, he decried “repeated violations of the framework agreement, the work of the military coordination group and international laws intended to protect civilians,” citing “the tragic death of an entire family in the village of Ansar.”

For President Aoun, “these violations are a clear message against the negotiation process and U.S. efforts to implement the agreement.”

Direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations have been underway since April under U.S. sponsorship, and the framework agreement for the gradual Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army was signed in June.

Huge blast in the Marjayoun area

The Israeli army carried out a very powerful blast between the villages of Taybeh and Deir Siriane (Marjayoun), shortly after 1 p.m., according to our correspondent. The echoes of the explosion were heard as far as Saida.

Latest toll in Deir Zahrani: Four killed

The Israeli raid on Deir Zahrani around 11:30 a.m. killed four people, according to the latest toll provided by our correspondent. Among the victims were a man and his son who were inside the building initially targeted and who were displaced from the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), as well as the property owner who had rented the apartment to the family.

The fourth victim was a motorist who was passing by at the time of the strike and succumbed to a head injury.

According to a local source cited by our correspondent in the region, the wife of one of the victims and her children had left the house shortly before the raid and survived by a miracle. The targeted building was completely destroyed, while a neighboring building was severely damaged.

Two killed in Deir Zahrani in initial toll, mass exodus toward Saida

The head of the Deir Zahrani municipal council, Haidar Toufeili, told our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah that the Israeli raid on Deir Zahrani (Nabatieh), carried out around 11:30 a.m., targeted a two-story residential building that was completely destroyed. A neighboring building was also destroyed. According to him, rescue teams have already recovered the body of one person killed from under the rubble, as well as a number of wounded people, while searches are continuing for those missing.

The Health Ministry, meanwhile, released an initial toll from the strike on Deir Zahrani, which has so far killed two people and wounded nine.

Meanwhile, an exodus has taken place following the strike, causing traffic congestion on the road linking Deir Zahrani to Sidon, the capital of southern Lebanon, according to our correspondent. Many families have also chosen to leave other areas of Nabatieh for safer areas, fearing that the escalation could spread.

Salam: Israel must end the escalation in the South

Reacting to the Israeli escalation since this morning in southern Lebanon, which has already killed several people, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted on X, saying that these attacks “on the city of Nabatieh, the villages of Ansar, Deir Zahrani and others … are extremely serious and hinder efforts to stabilize the situation in the South.”

“The seven people killed in the Israeli raid on the village of Ansar are not ‘military infrastructure’; the children and women who were killed are not military targets,” he stressed.

He continued: “The responsibility for managing any military infrastructure, if it exists on Lebanese territory, rests exclusively with the Lebanese state, through the Lebanese Army and its legitimate institutions, and the presence [of such infrastructure] does not give Israel the right to violate Lebanese territory or endanger the civilian population.”

“Israel must stop this escalation. The security of our people and their right to live on their land are neither negotiable nor subject to compromise,” Nawaf concluded.

Israeli aircraft carries out strike on building in Deir Zahrani

An airstrike carried out by a fighter jet targeted the town of Deir Zahrani (Nabatieh) in the morning, our correspondent in the region reports.

According to local media, the strike reportedly caused casualties.

Among Ansar victims, a mother and her four children

Photo provided by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah

Among the Ansar victims, a mother and her four children were killed in the Israeli strike on Ansar.

7 killed in Israeli strike on Ansar, highest toll since late June

An Israeli strike overnight from yesterday to today on Ansar, in an area of southern Lebanon that had been spared for two months, killed seven people, the highest toll since the mid-June cease-fire.

According to information from our southern Lebanon correspondent, the strike was carried out around 4:30 a.m. on two buildings in the area known as Qalaat al-Mais, between Ansar Zrarieh. The area had already been regularly targeted during the 15-month cease-fire that preceded the war launched in March by Hezbollah fire.

Several missiles were fired, causing extensive damage. Rescue teams immediately went to the scene and pulled nine people from the rubble, including seven who were killed, according to local sources.

Find our summary of the situation in southern Lebanon here.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of developments in South Lebanon, where the Israeli army, which continues to occupy more than 600 square kilometers along the border and destroy village after village, is continuing its escalation.

We will also follow the situation in the Middle East, where tensions remain high between the United States and Iran.