Lebanon says 1 killed in Israeli strike on border town that IDF left amid ceasefire
Attack on Al Khiam also injured one, says Lebanese health ministry; troops find Hezbollah arms in scan of south Lebanon; Amnesty: 4 Israeli strikes in Lebanon could be war crimes
Lebanon accused Israel on Thursday of killing one person in an airstrike on the border village of Al Khiam, from which the Israel Defense Forces recently withdrew as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
The accusation came as the Israeli military said troops had located Hezbollah arms in southern Lebanon.
In a statement, Lebanon’s health ministry said that “the Israeli enemy strike on the town of Al Khiam killed one person and injured another.”
Israel had said earlier that it was targeting Hezbollah operatives violating the late November ceasefire agreement, which gives the IDF 60 days to withdraw from Lebanon.
On Wednesday, the IDF confirmed it had withdrawn from Al Khaim — the first border town Israel ceded since the ceasefire — and the Lebanese army said it had deployed there in coordination with the international peacekeeping force UNIFIL.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Friday that troops operating in southern Lebanon amid the ceasefire were still finding Hezbollah weaponry, with soldiers of the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade capturing anti-tank missiles, assault rifles, RPGs, mortars, and other weapons and equipment during a scan of the area.
The soldiers also located an anti-tank missile launch site previously used by Hezbollah to attack Israeli border towns, the military added.
Amnesty accuses IDF of violating laws of war in Lebanon
Amnesty International, which has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, said Thursday that four Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon “must be investigated as war crimes.”
The strikes, carried out between September and October, were said to have killed at least 49 civilians. Amnesty said its report on the strikes was part of an ongoing investigation into violations of the laws of war in Lebanon.
The rights group said it interviewed survivors and witnesses, examined evidence, and found no military targets near the sites of the four strikes. The IDF gave no warnings and did not respond to Amnesty’s inquiries, the group claimed.
According to Amnesty, the first strike, on September 29, hit the village of al-Ain in northeast Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, killing nine members of the same family; the second strike, on October 14, hit the northern village of Aitou, killing 23 displaced people, including a 5-month-old baby; the third strike, on October 16, hit the municipal headquarters of south Lebanon’s Nabatieh, a Hezbollah stronghold, killing 11 people, including the mayor; the fourth strike, on October 21, hit eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek city, killing six members of the same family.
“These four attacks are emblematic of Israel’s shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law,” said Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.
A fragment from the attack site in Aitou — where Israel was reportedly targeting a senior Hezbollah official — was identified by an Amnesty weapons expert as likely part of an Mk-80 series aerial bomb, weighing at least 500 pounds. These munitions are primarily supplied to Israel by the United States, Amnesty said.
The IDF has said its strikes are intelligence-based and target Hezbollah operatives, and that precautions are taken to keep civilians safe, including evacuation orders and prior warning. The military also stresses that the Iran-backed terror group embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, and has found ammunition belonging to the terror group in civilian homes in south Lebanon.
Unprovoked, Hezbollah-led forces began attacking Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023, a day after its ally Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Fearing a similar Hezbollah onslaught, Israel evacuated residents of border towns. Hezbollah’s persistent rocket fire prevented some 60,000 displaced northerners from returning home.
In a bid to stop the rocket fire, Israel stepped up operations against Hezbollah in late September, all but decimating the terror group’s leadership.
Agencies contributed to this report.
