This attack marks the latest violation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah [Getty]
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike in the south killed two people on Monday, updating an earlier toll, after the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah militants there.
It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the area despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
“A short while ago, two Hezbollah terrorists who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities were struck by the IDF (military) in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
The Lebanese health ministry’s emergency unit later said the “toll from the Israeli enemy strike on Yohmor increased to two deaths after one of the wounded died from his severe injuries”, according to the official National News Agency (NNA), adding that two others were wounded.
The agency reported that an Israeli drone had targeted a motorcycle with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and “fires erupted in it” and a nearby shop.
NNA later reported more Israeli strikes on at least three different locations, including in the west of the Bekaa Valley.
The attacks came a day after NNA and the health ministry reported four deaths in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military had targeted the south Lebanon town of Ainata after “a stray bullet from a Hezbollah operative’s funeral” hit the windshield of a vehicle in the northern Israeli community of Avivim.
“We will not allow shooting from Lebanese territory toward northern communities — we will respond strongly to any violation of the ceasefire,” Katz said.
NNA cited the health ministry as saying that the strike on Ainata “led to the death of two people”, after reporting earlier fatalities in Israeli strikes on Mais al-Jabal and Bint Jbeil, also in south Lebanon.
The November 27 truce largely halted the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which included two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
But Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.
Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic”.
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
