BEIRUT (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes in Nabatieh, a major town in southern Lebanon, injured 24 people on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had attacked Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati strongly condemned the two strikes on Nabatieh and described them as a violation of the ceasefire arrangement with Israel.
Mikati spoke with U.S. General Jasper Jeffers, who chairs the committee monitoring the ceasefire, in a phone call on Tuesday, Mikati’s office said in a statement.
The Lebanese leader urged firm pressure on Israel to guarantee it implements the ceasefire according to international law, the statement said.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group and Israel agreed on a ceasefire in late November, ending a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war in 2023.
The U.S. said on Sunday the agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which included an initial 60-day period for the withdrawal of Israeli troops, would remain in effect until Feb. 18, an extension to the Jan. 26 deadline previously agreed.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Monday that the group would not accept any justifications to extend the period for Israeli troops’ withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces killed at least 24 people and wounded at least 141 in southern Lebanon on Sunday and Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as thousands of people tried to return to their homes in the area in defiance of Israeli military orders.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam; writing by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Alison Williams and Cynthia Osterman)
Comments