Hugo Bachega,Middle East correspondent and
Samantha Granville,Beirut
ReutersIsraeli troops carried out an incursion into a south Lebanese town overnight, killing a municipal employee, state media report, amid an escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
The troops, accompanied by drones and light armoured vehicles, entered Blida and stormed the town hall, where the employee – named as Ibrahim Salameh – was sleeping, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
The Israeli military said its troops were conducting an operation to “dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure”, without providing evidence that the building was being used by the group.
Israel’s operation drew a furious response in Lebanon, where a ceasefire ended a war between them last November.
Israel’s military says troops encountered a “suspect” inside the building and opened fire when an “immediate threat” was identified, it added. It was not clear whether Salameh had been the target of the operation.
Israel has stepped up its attacks on people and targets it says are linked to Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim group backed by Iran.
The Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, instructed the commander of the Lebanese army to confront any Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced the killing of Salameh and the incursion as a “flagrant violation of Lebanese institutions and sovereignty”.
He said Lebanon would continue pressing the United Nations and ceasefire guarantors “to ensure a halt to the repeated violations and the implementation of a complete Israeli withdrawal from our lands”.
Protests were held on Thursday morning in Blida and nearby towns, where residents blocked roads with burning tyres to denounce what they called a “blatant aggression” and the state’s failure to protect civilians.
AFPOver recent days, Israel intensified its strikes across Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hezbollah positions.
A second Israeli operation was reported overnight in the nearby village of Adaisseh, where residents say troops blew up a religious ceremonial hall.
Israeli warplanes also flew over parts of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Thursday, while drones were again seen circling low above Beirut’s southern suburbs.
During a meeting of ceasefire monitors on Wednesday, US envoy Morgan Ortagus said Washington welcomed Lebanon’s “decision to bring all weapons under state control by the end of the year”, adding that the Lebanese army “must now fully implement its plan”.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah was to move its fighters north of the Litani river and dismantle its military infrastructure there – a plan the group and its allies strongly oppose.
Only the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force, Unifil, are authorised to deploy armed personnel in the area south of the Litani, but Israel has maintained positions at several strategic border sites.
