Israeli strikes on south Lebanon have killed at least four people – including an Egyptian national – in two days, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, despite a complaint by its Foreign Minister to the UN Security Council over near-daily Israeli encroachments on its sovereignty.
One person was killed in an attack on a motorcycle in the southern village of Batouliyeh on Tuesday, the health ministry said.
On Monday, a strike on the southern city of Tyre killed Ali Noureddine, the imam of a local mosque who was formerly a presenter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar television station.
In a separate attack on Monday, Israel targeted a Mitsubishi SUV with three guided missiles near the town of Kfar Remman, killing two people, according to the National News Agency. They were identified as civilians by the state news agency: Samer Alaa Hoteit and Egyptian national Ahmed Abdel Nabi Ramadan.
The Israeli military said Mr Noureddine was involved in efforts to rebuild Hezbollah’s artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon, but provided no evidence for the claim.
Hezbollah said his killing signalled “the danger of Israel's extended escalations (in Lebanon) to include the media community”.
The attacks came after Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council, documenting what his ministry described as 2,036 “flagrant” Israeli violations of a US-brokered ceasefire between October and December.
Despite the ceasefire, agreed in November 2024, Israeli strikes have continued with the aim of pressuring Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. Since the ceasefire took effect, at least 127 civilians – including children, journalists and medical workers – had been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon as of November last year, according to the UN.
Israel has also occupied five points within southern Lebanese territory since the ceasefire, blocking the reconstruction of villages near the border and preventing tens of thousands of displaced people from returning home.
Hezbollah has largely disarmed south of the Litani river but it says it will not give up its weapons north of the Litani. The under-equipped Lebanese Army is responsible for Hezbollah’s disarmament under a contentious US-backed plan, beginning in the southern border area, and Washington has expressed frustration with its progress.
The Lebanese military has said the Israeli strikes “hinder the army's efforts and obstruct the completion of its plan” to establish state control of arms.
