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The Israeli military launched strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, fuelling fears of a renewed escalation as officials work to calm tensions in the region.
The Israeli military said it had carried out the strikes after accusing the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah of violating a US-brokered truce between the two sides, but gave no details of what the alleged violation was.
It had earlier issued an evacuation order for the village of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon, saying that military activities there were “ongoing”, in its first such warning for more than a month.
The Israeli strikes come amid renewed efforts to reach a deal to pause hostilities between the US and Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for global energy supplies.
Iranian officials have repeatedly warned that a collapse in the ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hizbollah, which is backed by Tehran, would imperil any deal between Iran and the US.
The Lebanese health ministry said one person had been killed and 12 injured in an Israeli strike in the area of Tebnin.
The strikes took place a day after Lebanese and Israeli officials met for their latest round of US-facilitated talks since agreeing a framework deal in June under which Hizbollah would be disarmed, and Israel would gradually withdraw from the territory it has seized in southern Lebanon.
Under the terms of the deal between Israel and Lebanon — the product of several rounds of historic direct talks between the two sides — Lebanon’s army is due to take over southern Lebanon as Israel withdraws.
Officials said last month that the Lebanese army had deployed to two areas meant to serve as “pilot zones” for the broader process.
However, the deal did not specify a timeline by which Israel’s military would complete its withdrawal, and has faced fierce criticism in Lebanon, where it is seen as offering considerable concessions to Israel with little in return.
Hizbollah was not party to the agreement and has rejected it wholesale.
Israel has occupied a swath of southern Lebanon since it invaded its northern neighbour earlier this year, after Hizbollah began firing rockets at Israel in March in response to the US-Israeli attack on Iran that killed the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The fighting has killed more than 4,300 people in Lebanon, and more than 1mn were displaced at the start of the latest war. While the worst of the fighting has subsided, hundreds of thousands of people have been unable to return home due to the presence of Israeli forces and their destruction of entire villages.
Hizbollah attacks have killed more than 30 Israeli soldiers and civilians over the same period.
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