Israeli forces have killed over 4,000 Lebanese since March after the country got dragged into the Middle East conflict [Getty/file photo]
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed a young motorcyclist on Friday, Lebanese state media reported, the latest attack despite a truce in the country.
“A young man from the city of Nabatieh was martyred in a raid by an enemy drone that targeted him this afternoon, when he was riding a motorcycle” in Kfar Rumman near the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.
It also reported other strikes in the area, wounding at least one person.
The Israeli military claimed it targeted “a Hezbollah terrorist operating near an access shaft of the underground terror infrastructure at the Ali al-Taher Ridge, within the Security Zone where (Israeli) soldiers are operating”, referring to a hill that overlooks the area of Nabatieh.
“In an additional strike, the (Israeli army) eliminated a suspect traveling in a vehicle who posed a threat to (Israeli) soldiers operating within the Security Zone.”
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on 2 March by attacking Israel, in retaliation for the death of Iran’s supreme leader, killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Israel responded with a large-scale bombing campaign, ground offensive, and an invasion, killing more than 4,300 people and occupying territory near the border.
Israel has kept up intermittent strikes on south Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area, despite the truce, claiming to target Hezbollah sites and operatives.
Lebanon and Israel recently reached a framework agreement that calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory while Lebanon’s army deploys into “pilot zones”.
However, the agreement – rejected by Hezbollah – does not set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal, and Israeli officials have also vowed that their forces will remain in a “security zone” 10 kilometres (six miles) deep as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon and Israel are set to meet for a new round of talks in Rome next week, and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is expected in Washington on 21 June, invited by his US counterpart Donald Trump.
In an interview with the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Aoun said that “the United States is the only party capable of exerting pressure on the Israeli government to prevent it from targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut, the infrastructure, or expanding the occupied territories in southern Lebanon”.
“We want the American administration to help us regain all of our land.”
