Two killed in a series of Israeli strikes 'among the most intense since the cease-fire' on Nabatieh
Hezbollah later announced, in two separate statements, the deaths of two of its members, Ali Mohammed Shahrour and Bassem Ali Assaf, both from the town of Harouf (Nabatieh). According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, both were killed in the series of Israeli strikes on Nabatieh.
These bombings targeted the hills and wooded heights of Kfar Tabnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa, with at least 15 missiles. The detonations were heard throughout southern Lebanon, up to Sour.
While Channel 14 in Israel, citing military sources, claimed they hit a "very important target" without giving further details, the Arabic-language spokesperson for the army, Avichay Adraee, quickly announced that these strikes targeted a site used by Hezbollah to "manage its firing and defense arrays" in the region of Shqif, a village about eight kilometers from Nabatieh. He stated that Hezbollah "saboteurs" and "combat means" were targeted. "This site was part of a strategic underground project, which has been put out of service," he added, while Hezbollah repeatedly published videos of a large network of tunnels during the last war.
L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent said that among the injured are cases of slight injuries and fainting in homes close to the bombed sites.
Cease-fire violations 'must stop'
President Joseph Aoun stated he was "monitoring the security developments" in the south, according to a brief statement published on the presidency's X account. Aoun "received reports on the consequences" of these strikes on the targeted locations.
"I affirm that all Israeli violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and the cease-fire agreement must stop and that the government has not spared and will not spare its efforts to expedite the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory," stated Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who was on tour in the Beqaa and at the Syrian-Lebanese border, also regularly bombarded by the Israeli army.
According to witnesses contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, the streets of Nabatieh filled with people after the strikes. A teacher at al-Moustapha school said that parents arrived to the school to pick up their children before the end of classes, while others rushed to universities to get the students out. Meanwhile, Haitham Abou Zeid, the president of the Kfar Ramman municipality, a village neighboring Nabatieh, stated that teams of municipal workers, accompanied by civil defense units and emergency services, "went to the strike site and are working to reopen the road that was blocked due to intense airstrikes by Israeli fighter jets." He added that many people, including students in local schools, panicked during the bombardments, which broke windows in the village.
Hassan, who prefers to use just his first name because he also holds American nationality, is in Lebanon for his engagement and was in Kfar Joz to buy a gold set for his fiancée. "I had never heard such strikes before," he told L'Orient-Le Jour. "People didn't seem to react, even the children. They looked scared but weren't really screaming — it's become like a new normal. It seems that Israel won't stop on its own; it must be stopped."
Meanwhile, Israeli fire targeted a civilian vehicle traveling on the road between Odaisseh and Kfar Kila (Marjayoun). The passengers survived the shootings, according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent. Israeli artillery targeted a farm in Bastara and the outskirts of Shebaa (Hasbaya) with two shells, while an Israeli drone dropped a bomb targeting workers conducting maintenance on the power grid in Houla (Marjayoun). No injuries were reported.
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