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Israel strikes southern Lebanon, kills one and wounds rescuers Beirut, Lebanon, May 3 (AFP) May 03, 2026 Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least one person and wounded four rescuers on Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel maintained its attacks on the country despite a fragile truce in its war with Hezbollah. In separate statements, the ministry said the a strike on Arabsalim killed at least one person and wounded three, including a child, and another strike on Srifa wounded five people including four rescuers from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, as the strike hit near one of their centres. "The Ministry reiterates its condemnation of these repeated attacks and recalls what is included in Article 19 of the Geneva Convention regarding the need to verify that medical facilities are safe from any danger caused by attacks in conflict zones, while what is happening is exactly the opposite." Israel's military on Sunday issued new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond the area it occupies. The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops. Arabsalim and Srifa were included in the warning. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, including on towns not mentioned in the evacuation warning.
On Wednesday Israel's military chief of staff Eyal Zamir had threatened to strike Hezbollah "beyond the yellow line", which marks the area of Israeli control. "Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces -- including beyond the Yellow Line and north of the Litani -- will be eliminated," he said during a visit to Israeli troops. The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks". In the past week two soldiers and an army contractor have been killed by drone attacks in the area, with dozens of soldiers wounded. Hezbollah has recently begun using cheap drones controlled by fibre-optic cable, making them largely immune to electronic jamming, to conduct daily attacks. These drones have a range of several dozen kilometres, which puts Israeli troops in Lebanon and communities in northern Israel under threat. The group on Monday said it targeted Israeli troops in Bayada, southern Lebanon, with a drone in response to Israel's "violation" of the ceasefire. The United States has called for direct peace negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on Wednesday for Israel to fully implement the ceasefire before the talks can take place. Hezbollah is strongly opposed to direct talks, with lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah saying on Sunday that the group was "capable of thwarting all the objectives of these negotiations, which increase the sharp division in the country between the factions of our people and within the state itself". |
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