Israeli Airstrike in Southern Lebanon Kills Two Amid Rising Tensions and Ongoing Escalation

Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted al-Mansouri and other towns in southern Lebanon, according to reports. An Israeli air strike targeting a motorcycle has killed two people in the Lebanese town of Kfar Reman, the Ministry of Public Health reported, as Israeli forces continue to intensify their attacks across southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Friday that the strike hit in Nabatieh near the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. The Israeli army claimed it had captured the ridge, though Hezbollah did not confirm losing it. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stated on Friday that the military had cleared Hezbollah fighters embedded in tunnels beneath the strategic ridge, which overlooks a wide and heavily contested area.

Additionally, Israeli raids and artillery shelling targeted seven towns in the Tyre and Nabatieh districts without causing casualties. The NNA noted that these attacks affected al-Mansouri, Majdal Zoun, Buyout al-Sayyad, Beit Lif, and Srebbine in the Tyre district, alongside Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Mayfadoun in the Nabatieh district.

These developments occur amid continued Israeli escalation against villages and towns across southern Lebanon, despite two truce agreements mediated on June 4 and 26 by the administration of United States President Donald Trump. The June 4 ceasefire was contingent upon a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of its fighters from the region south of the Litani River. Meanwhile, the June 26 framework agreement did not explicitly demand the withdrawal of Israeli forces, linking it instead to the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Lebanese authorities report that since March 2, when the latest Israeli escalation in its war on Lebanon began, Israeli attacks have resulted in more than 4,000 deaths, injured at least 12,000 individuals, and displaced over one million people from their homes. Israel has expanded its military footprint across portions of southern Lebanon following the launch of its new campaign against Hezbollah, which had fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli air strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In a separate development on Friday, Israeli authorities released four Lebanese citizens who had been detained in southern Lebanon and held in Israeli prisons. They were handed over to Lebanese authorities via the International Committee of the Red Cross, following the release of a Lebanese man the previous day as part of an agreement between the two nations.