BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed Sunday in an Israeli strike on the country’s south, as Israel said it hit Hizbollah operatives amid a fragile truce.
The toll in the “strike launched by the Israeli enemy on the town of Zibqin rose to two dead”, the health ministry said in a statement, adding that the toll was final after earlier reporting one dead.
The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike targeting two Hizbollah operatives in the Zibqin area, adding in a statement that they were “attempting to rebuild Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites”.
A fragile ceasefire in late November largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, but Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon.
The latest raid came after visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed the situation in south Lebanon with senior officials on Saturday.
On Friday, Israel killed a commander of Palestinian group Hamas in a pre-dawn raid in the south Lebanese port city of Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter.
A day earlier, Israel’s military said it carried out an air strike targeting a Hezbollah member in south Lebanon.
On Tuesday, Israel struck south Beirut, killing a Hizbollah Palestinian liaison officer, in only the second raid on the capital since the November 27 ceasefire.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported four dead in that strike, including a woman.
Under the truce, Hizbollah was to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel was to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions in south Lebanon that it deems “strategic”.
A Lebanese official said Sunday Ortagus discussed disarming Hezbollah without setting a deadline, during her meetings in Beirut a day earlier.
Ortagus met on Sunday with Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Economy Minister Amer Bisat and new central bank governor Karim Souaid, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The Lebanese official, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to brief the media, said Ortagus discussed “intensifying and speeding up the work of the Lebanese army in dismantling Hizbollah’s military infrastructure, leading to restricting weapons to state hands, without setting a timetable”.
Ortagus’s second visit to Lebanon comes as Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah, and as its troops remain in several points in the country’s south.
The envoy has not made any official statements during the visit, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described their discussions with Ortagus on Saturday as positive, noting they addressed the situation in south Lebanon and economic reforms.
A United Nations resolution that formed the basis of the November 27 ceasefire says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state armed groups.
The Iran-backed Hizbollah, the only Lebanese armed group that refused to surrender its weapons following a 1975-1990 civil war, was left heavily weakened during the latest conflict with Israel.
