Seven people, including three children, were killed in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese village of Ansar early on Saturday, the country's Health Ministry said.
It was one of the deadliest Israeli strikes on Lebanon since the June truce. Three people were injured in the attack.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the strike and dismissed any suggestion that those killed were "military targets".
“The responsibility for dealing with any military infrastructure, if it exists on Lebanese territory, lies exclusively with the Lebanese state," he said in a post on X.
The Lebanese government has been seeking to bring all weapons under state control, including the arsenal of Iran-backed Hezbollah, as part of efforts to strengthen state authority and end hostilities with Israel.
Lebanon and Israel have held several rounds of talks, including in the US, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the strike sent a "clear message regarding the negotiating process and the US efforts aimed at implementing this agreement”.
Lebanon and Israel have sought to advance a US-brokered framework agreement aimed at ending hostilities and securing an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The latest round of talks ended in Rome on August 6 without an agreement, with the two sides divided over Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Israeli strikes also hit Deir Al Zahrani, a village about 18lm from Ansar, killing four people and injuring nine, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Some residents left the area owing to the attack.
Israel’s military said it carried out overnight strikes across southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah infrastructure was the target.
The Israeli military also struck the Ali Al Taher ridge, a hilltop area to the south-east of the Nabatieh region, that has been a focal point of Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon.
