Israel claims the drone attack on a car targeted a Hezbollah member.
An Israeli drone attack on a car has killed two people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health has said.
Al Jazeera’s Ihab al-Aqdi, reporting from Lebanon, said the attack took place on Sunday in the Ayn al-Mizrab area north of the town of Bint Jbeil. He added that the targeted car was destroyed and that nearby buildings were damaged.
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The Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hezbollah member, accusing the Lebanese group of not adhering to a ceasefire that began in November 2024.
Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon since the ceasefire, despite the agreement, which ended a yearlong conflict that devastated Lebanon as well as Hezbollah’s leadership. Israel also continues to occupy five sites on the Lebanese side of the border.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire, including at least 127 civilians.
Israel, backed by the United States, expects Hezbollah to disarm. The Lebanese group has refused, however, leaving the Lebanese government and army in the difficult position of attempting to placate Israel and the US, while also avoiding a military confrontation with Hezbollah, which remains powerful despite the losses it has sustained at the hands of Israel.
The losses include the killing of its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September 2024, in an Israeli attack on Beirut.
The Lebanese government is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the army’s progress in disarming Hezbollah, beginning in southern Lebanon. It had previously set a deadline for the end of 2025 to do so, before continuing the disarmament process in the rest of the country. However, the plan has been dismissed by Hezbollah.
A ceasefire monitoring committee, including peacekeepers from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations, is also set to meet in the upcoming week.
Highlighting Israel’s uncompromising position, the country’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said that the Lebanese government’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah were “far from sufficient”, and that the group was aiming to rearm “with Iranian support”.
