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At least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Monday, the country’s health ministry said, as attacks persisted despite Iranian threats to strike Israel again if it continued bombing the country.
Strikes were reported in Marwanieh and Tyre after Israel and Iran said they had brought an end to a round of tit-for-tat attacks begun by Tehran over the Israeli campaign in Lebanon.
“An Israeli enemy raid on the city of Tyre, near the Red Cross centre, resulted in 5 martyrs and 8 wounded, four of whom were Red Cross paramedics,” the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.
A Lebanese culture ministry official said Israeli bombardment the previous day had also damaged a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tyre.
A later strike on Marwanieh killed two people, including a child, and wounded 10, while a dawn strike on Zifta in the Nabatieh district killed seven people, “including a Syrian child and a woman”, according to the health ministry.
Iran-backed Hezbollah meanwhile said it had targeted Israeli troops inside Lebanon, but did not claim any attacks on Israeli territory.
Israel to continue operations in Lebanon
Iran has warned that it will resume attacks if Israel continues striking Lebanon, but Israeli leaders on Monday insisted they would not be deterred.
While announcing the end of its attacks on Israel, Iran’s military central command said that “should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow”.
But Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed after the warning that the military would “continue to operate in Lebanon against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah”.
He added that Israel would strike Beirut’s southern suburbs in retaliation for every attack on northern Israel.
“We categorically reject Iran’s threats. Any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force, as happened yesterday,” Katz said.
Iran insists a halt to the wider Middle East conflict must include a ceasefire in Lebanon, and on Sunday fired missiles at Israel in response to strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier that day.
Lebanon says Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,600 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on 2 March with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
After an April ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel established a so-called Yellow Line inside Lebanese territory, roughly a dozen kilometres from its northern border where ground troops are now operating.
Additional sources • AFP