Israel Justifies Raids on Lebanon: “To Push for Negotiations”
Beirut- Occupied Jerusalem- Agencies: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Sunday to “strike hard,” following a significant escalation in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Katz wrote on the X platform, “No account will remain open on any battlefield. We will strike hard to defend our soldiers and citizens.” Eleven people, including three children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, marking the highest daily toll since the framework agreement between the two countries was signed in late June.
Meanwhile, Dori Smeilman, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Agence France-Presse that Israeli strikes against Hezbollah “should give the talks a strong boost and make them more serious, not have the opposite effect.”
For its part, the United States affirmed that the experimental zones plan in southern Lebanon remains “the only solution to achieve sustainable peace and security” in Lebanon. A spokesperson for the US State Department told the Hebrew-language channel i24NEWS that “the experimental zones track remains the only viable path to long-term peace and security for Lebanon and Israel.” The spokesperson noted that Washington expects the Lebanese Army to complete land-clearing operations in the first experimental zones, with the process expanding after verifying its success, adding that “disarming Hezbollah is an integral part of this process.”
The spokesperson clarified that the United States will continue to support the trilateral framework, in line with its interest in regional stability and conflict prevention, and in support of President Trump’s agenda to enhance peace among nations. He described Hezbollah as “the main obstacle to Lebanon’s economic recovery, the only blemish on its international reputation, and the greatest threat to its security and stability,” holding it “fully responsible for Israel’s presence on Lebanese territory” and calling on it to “disarm and dissolve itself as an organization.”
The Israeli military stated that the airstrikes it launched on the town of Ansariya in southern Lebanon targeted a Hezbollah military official, in response to an operation carried out by Hezbollah against its forces. In a statement on X, the army said its forces attacked a Hezbollah command center and killed “Ali Samir Al-Hajj Hassan, who was a sector commander in the party’s Radwan Force.” The Israeli military said the Al-Hajj Hassan family “was not targeted” and that Al-Hajj Hassan “used his family members as human shields and hid with them inside the military command center.”
The Israeli military added that it “attacked infrastructure belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in the Nabatieh and Ansariya areas,” explaining that the airstrikes came “following activity” against its forces in the “Ali Al-Taher Heights” area overlooking Nabatieh.
In Deir al-Zahrani, widespread destruction and heavy traffic congestion were observed toward Sidon, as people headed north after some loaded their cars with belongings. The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that the strike on Ansariya killed seven people, including three children and two women. The ministry also reported that four people were killed and 17 others injured, including one child and 11 women, in another strike on Deir al-Zahrani.
