Lebanon says 4 dead in strikes that Israel calls response to Hezbollah drones

Lebanon said four people were killed on Sunday in strikes which Israel said it carried out after Hezbollah had launched drones at its soldiers in south Lebanon, the latest escalation amid a fragile truce.

Lebanon's health ministry reported two people killed in south Lebanon's Nabatieh al-Fawqa and two women killed in nearby Arab Salim.

It said 20 other people including several women and three children were wounded in those locations as well as in the city of Nabatieh and the town of Kfar Rumman, adding that the toll was provisional.

Israel's army said it struck south Lebanon after Hezbollah fighters launched two drones towards Israeli soldiers operating in Israel's self-declared "security zone" in the south.

It slammed a "blatant violation" by Hezbollah, without reporting troop casualties in the incident.

Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks on Israeli targets for weeks.

Israel's military had earlier issued its first evacuation notice in Lebanon in a month, warning residents near a building it identified as a Hezbollah "facility" in Arab Salim to evacuate ahead of an attack on the site.

It did not issue warnings for other areas where strikes were reported.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that after the Israeli warning for Arab Salim, "enemy warplanes launched a strike on another house, destroying it" and killing the two women.

It said the Israeli military subsequently carried out a strike on the home threatened in the evacuation warning.

- Villa hit -

An AFP correspondent saw a devastated building that used to be a villa, including a large decorative column that had been toppled, at the site of the Israeli warning.

Haidar Haidar, the owner's brother, told AFP that nobody had been living in the building at the time.

At the second site in Arab Salim, where the two women were killed, a mattress, furniture and other items including a Hezbollah flag were strewn among the rubble, while neighbouring buildings were also damaged.

The health ministry condemned another strike that it said "totally destroyed" the out-of-service Ghandour hospital in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, decrying "another grave violation of international humanitarian law".

The NNA also reported a strike on a motorcycle in the Nabatieh area and said an airstrike on Nabatieh city targeted a historical building and damaged offices belonging to finance and agriculture authorities.

An AFP correspondent there saw rubble and heavy damage to adjacent buildings, shops and vehicles, as heavy machinery cleared the road.

- 'Take action' -

In the regional ministry offices, dust and debris covered chairs and desks.

Nabatieh Mayor Abbas Fakhreddine said that "the Lebanese government must take action... and at the least defend its institutions", adding it was the second time the finance and agriculture buildings had been damaged by strikes.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in March after Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.

Violence has lessened since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader conflict in June, while Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement later that month.

On Friday, Israeli strikes in the country's south and east killed four people including an 18-year-old woman as Israel said it struck Hezbollah.

Earlier this week, Israel said it had taken "operational control" of the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge near Nabatieh.

Hezbollah has not confirmed Israel's capture of the site.

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