Israeli attacks in Lebanon kill 10 people, including high-ranking soldiers
The deaths include a brigadier general, a captain and a soldier killed while travelling on the Khardali-Nabatieh road. At least 10 people, including high-ranking soldiers
The deaths include a brigadier general, a captain and a soldier killed while travelling on the Khardali-Nabatieh road. At least 10 people, including high-ranking soldiers, have been killed in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, days after the countries agreed to a conditional truce during United States-mediated talks. Lebanonās army said on Saturday that two officers, a brigadier general and a captain, as well as a soldier, were killed in an Israeli strike on a military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road. The Israeli army said in a statement that the attack had been in an āactive combat zoneā, and that āmovement in a combat zone requires coordinationā with the Israeli army. It added that āthe incident remains under investigationā. Following the attack on its soldiers, the Lebanese army said that āthe continuation of the deliberate and repeated brutal Israeli aggression ⦠is aimed at thwarting all efforts to reach a solutionā. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack and said in a statement posted on social media that his office considered the attack a āflagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and of international laws and normsā.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the attack, describing it as āa heinous crime and an attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese peopleā. In a statement, Salam extended his condolences to the families and colleagues of Brigadier General Wassam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury and soldier Hussein Ghozal, as well as to the Lebanese army itself. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah dubbed the attack a āheinous crimeā and accused the Lebanese government of exposing its own country to bloodshed through its ācomplete surrender to the enemyās demands in Washingtonā. āThis is not the first time that Lebanese army soldiers or officers have been killed,ā said Al Jazeeraās Ali Hashem, reporting from Beirut, adding that more than 50 have been killed since the start of the conflict on March 2. However, āthis is the first time that such a high-ranking general was killed.ā A lot of rhetoric has come from Lebanese officials, ābut thereās nothing that the government can do. A few weeks ago, more than 13 national security personnel were killed and nothing was really done by the government,ā said Hashem.
āThe only thing the government could do over the past weeks was to withdraw its troops from the southern villages and towns that, at the moment, the Israelis are approaching.ā Lebanonās āreal foeā Separately, an Israeli air strike on the southern village of Saksakiyah, in the Sidon district, killed six people and wounded four others, reported state-run News Agency (NNA), while another person was killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a car on the highway in Deir al-Zahrani, in the Nabatieh district. Israel also renewed forced displacement orders for the southern Lebanese villages of Armati, Mashgara, Kafr Huna, Sajad and Ansariya, ordering residents to move north of the Zahrani River. Hezbollah, meanwhile, said its fighters struck a Merkava tank at the newly established Blat outpost in the Bint Jbeil area using an Ababil swooping drone, claiming a confirmed hit. A ceasefire that was supposed to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on April 17, but has never been fully respected. Hezbollah and Israel have frequently exchanged accusations of truce violations, with each side justifying its own attacks by citing the alleged violations committed by the other side.
