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⚡️ Israel’s Defence Forces published a statement on Saturday attempting to justify the attacks across south Lebanon overnight, which resulted in 11 people killed and 19 others injured in the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Ansar, in the Nabatieh district, which is currently not within the security zone.
🔹 According to the statement, a Hezbollah drone targeted Israeli positions near Ali al-Taher Ridge, in an area Israeli troops should not be, and which ultimately resulted in injuries to three IDF soldiers.
🔹 Israeli Army Radio reported the incident involved a drone packed with explosives launched by Hezbollah toward the IDF position around 2:30am in the Ali al-Taher mountain range.
🔹 The soldiers are part of the Yehalom engineering unit operating in the mountainous terrain of southern Lebanon.
🔹 One soldier was reported to be in a critical condition, and the other two were in serious condition, while the IDF said the incident was a violation of the ceasefire agreement and that the IDF viewed it with ‘great seriousness.’
JUSTIFICATION
🔹 The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office posted on X that Hezbollah had allegedly violated the ceasefire by attacking soldiers ‘in the security zone,’ which protects Israeli communities just across the border, stating that the attack seriously injured three soldiers, so the IDF responded by striking the ‘Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack.’
🔹 “Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound,” the statement said, despite every IDF statement reiterating that the IDF: “Take every step and measure possible to minimise collateral damage.”
🔹 According to the statement by the PM’s office: “Hezbollah is willing to do anything, including using its own civilians as human shields, to falsely accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, which the IDF clearly did not.”
🔹 However, evidence that was published appeared to show otherwise, with a house demolished in the village of Aram, which also killed a family of six people, while another strike hit a commercial centre which included shopping districts and a restaurant.
🔹 The attacks allegedly were on Hezbollah positions, and the civilians were ‘placed in harm’s way,’ despite no attacks expected in these areas due to them being outside Israel’s security zones, and the attack reportedly striking a house on the outskirts of the southern town of Ansar as well as a building in Deir Zahrani.
🔹 A statement from the IDF confirmed that the ‘central Hezbollah Radwan Force Headquarters’ in the Ansar region was struck, killing Ali Samir al-Haj Hassan, a Radwan Force battalion commander, along with several other operatives.
🔹 Hassan’s family was also present with him inside the military headquarters, and the statement said the family members were not a target of the strike.
🔹 “The strike was specifically directed at Hassan, who was a lawful target under international law,” the statement said, adding: “The terrorist used his family as human shields, hiding alongside them inside the military headquarters.”
LEBANON’S RESPONSE
🔹 President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks on the south, as well as Israel’s repeated violations of the framework agreement: “These violations send a clear message regarding the negotiating process and the US efforts aimed at implementing this agreement,” he said.
🔹 Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, said: “The aggression against the towns of Ansar, Deir al-Zahrani, and al-Mansouri, as well as villages in the Nabatieh district, is a message to the sponsors of the negotiations and ceasefire agreements, urging them to assume their responsibility and stop the war of annihilation before it’s too late.”
🔹 Berri added: “Israel does not give any importance to any agreements, laws, or efforts aimed at ending the war and tensions in Lebanon or the region.”
🔹 Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on X that the seven martyrs of the Israeli raid on the town of Ansar were not military personnel or infrastructure, but women and children killed in a family home.
🔹 Salam said the responsibility for dealing with any military infrastructure, if present on Lebanese territory, is exclusively an issue for the Lebanese State, through the Lebanese Army and its legitimate institutions.
🔹 The statement said that any military presence did not grant Israel the right to violate Lebanese territory or put civilian lives at risk, stating that Israel must stop the escalation: “The security of our people and their right to live on the land are not subject to negotiation or compromise,” he wrote.
🔹 Mufti Qabalan released a statement saying: “What we are witnessing – the massacres and acts of extermination targeting children and women in the towns of Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani, is the responsibility of the executive authority, which is betraying the most critical requirements of national security.”
🔹 Hezbollah called on the Lebanese authorities to reassess their policies in such a way that preserves national sovereignty and rights, arguing the current approach has not only failed to protect the country, but is causing humiliation.
🔹 The group urged the government to adopt a national courageous and responsible stance, and to stop being dragged into negotiations pushed by the United States, while warning Israel and the US that continued aggression, transgression and attempts to impose fait accompli would be met with a response proportionate to defending Lebanon, its people, sovereignty, and dignity.
SOLIDARITY
🔹 On Saturday, the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement that reaffirmed support for Hezbollah and the Lebanese resistance: “The Israeli regime, in the shadow of shameful since in the Lebanese government and the blatant complicity of some Arab regimes, is committing the most heinous crimes in that country,” the statement noted.
🔹 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also commented on the attacks on Saturday, saying that the ongoing attacks were ‘a major source of concern,’ and noting: “During President Trump’s recent visit to Turkiye, I discussed with him the need to stop the war on Lebanon.”
