Five killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon

Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people on Saturday, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. The attacks came after evacuation warnings for 20 locations despite a US-brokered ceasefire. BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people on Saturday, as attacks continued despite a ceasefire brokered by the United States. One person was killed in a strike on the town of Maarakeh in the Tyre district. Ali Badie, the mayor of Ar Rihan municipality, was killed in an Israeli attack on the area in the Jezzine district. Three more people were killed in the towns of Deir al Zahrani and Kafr Reman in the Nabatieh district. The strikes came shortly after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning covering 20 locations, including the city of Nabatieh, ahead of the raids. Several of the areas hit were among those named in the warning, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, which are near Nabatieh. In its notice, the Israeli army told residents to "evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Zahrani River" The river lies about 45 kilometres from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. Last month, the Israeli military declared all areas south of the river to be combat zones and has continued carrying out strikes there since then. Strikes follow fresh warning Eyewitnesses said blasts and artillery fire were heard near the hills overlooking Nabatieh. The latest attacks followed further fighting on the ground, with Hezbollah saying on Friday that its fighters had confronted Israeli forces advancing toward the town of Majdal Zoun. Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since early March, when the Iran-backed group launched rocket fire at Israel and drew Lebanon into the wider regional conflict. Hezbollah described the attack as retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel later launched a large-scale air campaign and a ground incursion into Lebanon, and more than 3,700 people have been killed in the country. Ceasefire has failed to halt fighting Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has adhered to an April ceasefire. A conditional truce announced this month after a fourth round of direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations in Washington also did not stop the violence. Saturday’s strikes were the latest sign that the ceasefire arrangements have failed to end hostilities in southern Lebanon, with attacks continuing even after evacuation orders were issued for multiple towns.