Fighting in southern Lebanon continues as Israel seeks to establish a ‘security zone’ and dismantle Hezbollah.
At least seven people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, local media reports say, as Israel’s offensive on its northern neighbour enters its second month.
An Israeli air raid on the town of Ramadiyeh, in the Tyre district, killed four people and wounded three others, the Ministry of Public Health said on Thursday.
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A separate Israeli strike in the early morning hours hit a two-storey building in Kfarsir, in the Nabatieh district, killing three people, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Further Israeli air raids were also reported in the towns of Yater, Harouf and Zebdine, destroying several homes.
This comes a day after a raid in the Nabatieh district killed an entire family – a man, his wife and their two daughters.
The Israeli military on Thursday claimed to have killed 40 Hezbollah fighters in 24 hours, as it targeted weapons depots and launch sites. The Lebanese group has not issued statements to deny or confirm the killing of its members.
Since Israel launched its offensive on March 2, 1,318 people have been killed in Lebanon and 3,935 injured. At least 24 people have been killed in Israel since the beginning of its war on Iran on February 28, along with the United States, which has lost 13 US soldiers in the region so far.
Hezbollah targets Israeli troops
Hezbollah has been launching attacks on Israel, which is waging a war against its ally, Iran. On Thursday, it claimed a series of rocket attacks targeting Israeli troops and infrastructure in northern Israel and border areas.
In a statement, the group said it fired a barrage of rockets at “infrastructure belonging to the Israeli military in the Kiryat Ata area”, east of the occupied city of Haifa.
Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster published an image of a small cloud of smoke rising from a settlement in the Galilee region after the attack from Lebanon. It said more than 30 rockets were launched into the region over a few minutes, marking the second such assault on the area in one hour.
Channel 12 also reported an attack in the northern town of Metula, with some of the rockets intercepted while others fell in open areas.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said Hezbollah and Israeli troops were engaged in fighting in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah targeting Israeli troops with rockets around the town of Antara.
Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon on March 16. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s military would occupy a swath of southern Lebanon even after the end of the current war, establishing a “security zone”.
Abed Abou Shhadeh, a political commentator based in Jaffa, told Al Jazeera that Israel will hold elections by the end of the year and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must uphold his promise of “absolute victory”.
“What we’re seeing is they [Israelis] don’t have any clear objectives in Iran, and the Americans want to finish the war,” Abou Shhadeh said.
Amid a lack of a clear exit plan in Iran, the analyst argued that Israeli leaders were preparing to continue waging war in Lebanon even if a ceasefire is reached in Iran to deliver what can be presented as a victory over Hezbollah.