US envoy Morgan Ortagus visits Lebanon as Israel intensifies strikes

Five killed in attacks on areas in south and east of the country, almost a year into ceasefire with Hezbollah

People inspect the wreckage of a vehicle hit by an Israeli drone. Israel has launched a series of attacks on Lebanon, despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah. EPA

Five people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, as US envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in the country on Monday as Washington pushes for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Two brothers were killed in Al Bayyad in south Lebanon on Monday afternoon. One person was killed in an assault on a car at Naqoura, in Tyre province, Lebanon's Health Ministry said on Sunday.

A fourth died in a strike on a vehicle in Nabi Chit, in the eastern Baalbek region. The fifth, a Syrian citizen, was killed and another wounded in an attack on the town of Al Hafir, also in Baalbek, the ministry added.

Several foreign officials will be visiting Lebanon this week as fears mount of yet another Israeli escalation.

Ms Ortagus, the US deputy special envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Beirut on Monday afternoon from Israel.

Soon after Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also landed in the Lebanese capital for a two-day visit.

His office said he would reiterate the Arab League's support for a plan by Lebanese authorities to bring all weapons under state control when he meets Lebanese officials.

Egypt's intelligence chief Hassan Rashad is also due to visit Lebanon this week.

Cairo's ambassador to Beirut, Alaa Moussa, speaking after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, said Egypt is "making efforts to calm the situation", following a surge in Israeli attacks recently.

Mr Aoun has called for indirect negotiations with Israel to demarcate the contested land border and halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Lebanese citizens are barred from interacting with Israelis.

Israel has intensified strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks despite a nearly year-long ceasefire with Hezbollah. Several deadly attacks have been launched in the past few days. Israel claimed two members of Hezbollah were the targets of its attacks on Sunday.

The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah "weapons dealer and smuggler" in eastern Lebanon named Ali Hussein Al Mousawi. The military added that it also killed a Hezbollah representative in southern Lebanon who it identified as Abd Mahmoud Al Sayed.

Also on Sunday, the UN said an Israeli drone dropped a grenade close to peacekeepers in Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon and that an Israeli tank fired towards the patrolling force. The UN's Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said Israel's actions breached Lebanon's sovereignty and showed "disregard for the safety and security of the peacekeepers".

Israel's military accused peacekeepers of shooting down a drones, which it claimed did not pose a threat to Unifil forces.

As part of last year's ceasefire, Israeli troops were supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back to north of the Litani River, as well as to dismantle military infrastructure in the south.

A Unifil vehicle in the village of Odaisseh, in southern Lebanon. EPA

Only the Lebanese military and Unifil are supposed to have a presence in the south of the country. But Israel has kept troops at five border points it deems strategic and it continues to bomb Lebanon every day.

Under pressure from the US, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan fiercely opposed by the Iran-backed group and its allies. Beirut has assigned the task to the army, which is expected to complete the disarming of Hezbollah in the area south of the Litani by the end of the year.

Hezbollah has resisted any talks over its weapons until Israel ceases its attacks and withdraws from Lebanon – a policy repeated by the group's leader, Naim Qassem, on Sunday.

Ms Ortagus is expected to attend a meeting of a committee charged with monitoring the ceasefire, as well as hold talks with President Joseph Aoun and other Lebanese leaders.

On Sunday, Ms Ortagus was in Israel where she visited the Lebanese border with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and the US ambassador to the country, Mike Huckabee. Ms Ortagus was briefed on Hezbollah's alleged efforts to rebuild its infrastructure along the frontier, Israeli media reported.

Another US envoy, Tom Barrack, warned last week that Hezbollah may face a new confrontation with Israel if Lebanese authorities fail to act quickly to disarm the group in full, which Hezbollah has rejected doing so far.