2 killed in Israeli airstrikes in S. Lebanon

17/3/2025 5:56

Two people were killed on Sunday evening in Israeli airstrikes targeting a house in the village of Ainata in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operations Center.

The center, affiliated with Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health, confirmed the airstrikes and casualties in a statement.

A Lebanese security source said Israeli warplanes fired two air-to-ground missiles at the house, leading to casualties and destroying the house. "Civil Defense teams are working to clear the rubble," the source added.

The unnamed source noted that in a separate attack, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at prefabricated homes in the village of Kafr Kila in southeastern Lebanon, utterly destroying them. According to the source, residents set up these temporary homes about two weeks ago as provisional shelters while rebuilding their damaged houses. No casualties were mentioned.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that an Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade in the afternoon near a civilian inspecting his home in the village of Ramyah.

The NNA added that the Lebanese Red Cross transported three bodies from the village of Al-Qasr, near the border with Syria, to Hermel Governmental Hospital. Security forces are investigating the case.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said a gunshot hit a vehicle in the northern Israeli community of Avivim, with no immediate reports of injuries.

"The gunshot most likely originated from Lebanese territory," the military said in a statement, adding that troops were scanning the area and the incident was under review.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that the gunfire was likely errant shots fired during a funeral in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the military to strike targets in the area of Ainata in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

He issued a stern warning to the Lebanese government, saying, "We will not allow fire from Lebanese territory toward northern Israeli communities, we will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire."

Later on Sunday, Israel's military said it struck a command and control center of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force and other structures used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, claiming their presence constituted "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."

Although a ceasefire agreement has largely held between Hezbollah and Israel since November last year, ending more than a year of hostilities following the war in Gaza, Israel has maintained a military presence and carried out dozens of attacks in Lebanon, causing casualties.