In brief
- At least 17 people have been killed by Israeli air and drone strikes in Lebanon, local authorities say.
- It marks another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect.
Israeli drone strikes on vehicles south of Beirut have killed four people, while airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, Lebanese authorities say.
The fresh strikes mark another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on 17 April. Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued their daily attacks despite the truce.
Two of the strikes on Saturday, local time, took place on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon, in which several people were wounded, while the third happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region, killing three, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said.
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven, including a child, and wounded 15. The ministry said this was an initial count.
The agency reported strikes in southern Lebanon, including one on the village of Bourj Rahhal that killed three and another in Maifadoun that killed one.
In a separate incident, the ministry said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.
The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man.
The girl then moved about 100m away and was hit again by the drone after she had already been wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.
"The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon," the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series "of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law".
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon, adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It claimed Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon one of which hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon, as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on 2 March, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah's main backer, Iran.
Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting next week.
A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on 17 April. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.
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