BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed five people in the south on Wednesday, amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after two months of all-out war.
The Lebanese army said it deployed troops around Khiam, a key town just five kilometres (three miles) from the border that saw heavy fighting between Israel and the group.
“An Israeli enemy drone strike on the town of Ainata killed one person and wounded another,” the health ministry said.
An “Israeli strike on the town of Bint Jbeil killed three people,” while a third “on Beit Lif killed one person”.
Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of Hamas following its Palestinian ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
A ceasefire came into effect on November 27. Both sides have accused the other of repeated violations.
Lebanese army says 1 person killed, 4 soldiers wounded in Israeli strike
Under the terms of the agreement, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days.
Hezbollah is required to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south.
The Lebanese army said “units deployed in five positions around the town of Khiam” in coordination with UN peacekeepers and “within the framework of the first phase of deployment in the area, at the same time as the Israeli enemy withdrawal”.
“The deployment will be completed in the next phase, while specialised units” will survey the town to “remove unexploded ordnance”, it added.
Diplomats meet Hezbollah ally
Earlier, UN peacekeepers entered Khiam “to inspect the road and verify the Israeli enemy army’s withdrawal,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.
The NNA said the peacekeepers found the body of a man “in the vicinity of his house” in the border town.
The news agency reported that ambassadors from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt held a meeting Wednesday with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has scheduled a parliament session in January for lawmakers to elect a president.
Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a head of state for more than two years amid deadlock between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs in parliament.
Envoys from the five countries who met with Berri have been working for months to facilitate the process.
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