Israeli strike kills 9 in south Lebanon

At least nine people were ​killed in ⁠an Israeli dawn air strike in southern Lebanon ‌on Saturday, Lebanon's state news ‌agency said.

Three others were injured when Israeli planes struck a house in the southern village of Ansar, Lebanon's National News Agency said. The strike is ‌one of the deadliest attacks on Lebanon in the weeks since it ⁠agreed to a US-mediated peace framework with Israel.

The terms leave Israeli troops inside occupied southern Lebanon until Hizbollah is disarmed and the Lebanese army takes control, terms the Iran-backed militia has rejected as surrender.

"The framework agreement...is an Israeli order written in Israeli ink that the Lebanese authorities ​have signed onto," Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said during a ‌speech on Friday.

First responders searches for survivors amidst the rubble on the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Ansar, Lebanon, on Saturday. AFP

First responders evacuate a body from the rubble. AFP

In a statement, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it described as a security zone in south ⁠Lebanon in response to actions against its soldiers.

Israel's military seized a swath of south Lebanon during a war with Hizbollah earlier this year, which was triggered ​when ‌the group fired at Israel two days into the US-Israeli war ‌on Iran. Israel has said it will keep its forces there to shield northern Israel from further attacks.

During a visit to south Lebanon on Thursday, defence ‌minister Israel Katz ‌said Israel would not withdraw from ⁠the regions it controls until Hizbollah is disarmed. A ‌US State Department official said that a permanent Israeli military presence in the area was not consistent with commitments set ⁠out in the deal with Lebanon's government.

At least 4,300 people ​have been killed in Lebanon in the latest round of hostilities since March 2.

Reuters