7 said killed as Israel strikes south Lebanon after Hezbollah drones target troops

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday killed seven people and wounded 20 others, according to Lebanese authorities, after Hezbollah launched two explosive drones at Israeli troops operating in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces said one of the drones, which targeted troops operating in the Ali Taher Ridge area, was shot down by troops and that no soldiers were injured in the attack.

The IDF called the drone attack a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire and said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure and operatives in response.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said two people were killed and two wounded in Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Sunday morning, while two women were killed and six people wounded in nearby Arab Salim.

Eight people were wounded in the city of Nabatieh and four in Kafr Rumman, with the ministry saying the toll was provisional and included several women and three children.

Lebanese media reported that one of the Israeli strikes destroyed Ghandour Hospital in Nabatieh al-Fawqa. The facility was empty of patients and staff, and according to the state-run National News Agency, it had been out of service for years.

????غارة إسرائيلية تُدمّر مستشفى غندور في بلدة النبطية الفوقا بالكامل صباح اليوم، مع الإشارة إلى أن المستشفى كان خالياً من المرضى والموظفين pic.twitter.com/idsrsFZbN2

— Annahar النهار (@Annahar) September 6, 2026

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had been using the hospital as a command center. The military also said that it had hit a weapon depots and other buildings used by Hezbollah to advance attacks.

The IDF said that recently, Hezbollah operatives involved in “artillery and surveillance” had been operating from the command center at the hospital compound. All of the strikes were carried out to “remove threats,” the military added

בתגובה לשיגור שני רחפני הנפץ לעבר כוחותינו במרחב הביטחוני: צה"ל תקף מחבלים ותשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב דרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/KCr1XEXU11

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 6, 2026

On Sunday evening, Lebanese media reported three dead in an additional Israeli strike in the Nabatieh area.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the strike.

Ahead of the strikes, the military issued an “urgent warning” to residents near a building in Arab Salim that it said was used by Hezbollah, ordering people to move at least 300 meters away ahead of an airstrike.

The warning was the first of its kind in Lebanon in several weeks and came, the IDF said, in response to Hezbollah launching an “explosive-laden drone toward IDF troops.”

Lebanon’s National News Agency said that after the warning was issued, Israeli warplanes “launched a strike on another house, destroying it” and killing the two women.

The NNA also reported that a heavy strike in Nabatieh hit a historic building and damaged offices belonging to Lebanon’s finance and agriculture authorities, as well as nearby shops and cafes. It separately reported a strike on a motorcycle in the area.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment on Sunday’s drone attack.

Last week the IDF said troops had finished clearing a Hezbollah underground facility beneath the Ali Taher Ridge after establishing “operational control” of the area above and below ground, including two tunnel routes.

The IDF described the facility as a “strategic infrastructure that was built over two decades,” which it said was financed and planned by Iran.

Also last week, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would not withdraw from its southern Lebanon security zone until Hezbollah had been disarmed throughout the country. Hezbollah has not commented on the IDF’s announcement or confirmed that Israeli forces captured the site.

“The capture of Ali Taher is an important step toward achieving this goal,” added Katz,  saying the operation “marks the completion of the phase of establishing control over the security zone in southern Lebanon.”

Israeli forces remain deployed inside what Israel describes as a “security zone” extending roughly 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon along the border.

Israel and Lebanon signed a US-brokered framework agreement on June 26 aimed at paving the way toward an eventual peace deal. Israel agreed to withdraw from two small areas beyond its original security zone, with Lebanese troops taking over, while Israeli officials said further withdrawals would depend on measurable progress by the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah.

As part of the US-brokered talks, Israel last week released five Lebanese civilian detainees after Beirut assisted efforts to locate and return the remains of members of Lebanon’s Jewish community who were abducted and murdered by Shiite terror groups in the 1980s. The Prime Minister’s Office said the five had been questioned and found not to be members of terrorist organizations or involved in terrorism.