Lebanon says soldier among two wounded in Israeli strike

BEIRUT: Lebanon said two people including a soldier were wounded in an Israeli strike Sunday in the country’s south, where the army has been deploying after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.“A soldier was moderately wounded due to the Israeli enemy targeting of a vehicle… at the Beit Yahun checkpoint” in Bint Jbeil district, an army statement said.Beit Yahun is around eight kilometres (around five miles) from the border.

The health ministry said two people including a soldier were wounded in the strike, which it said was launched by an “Israeli enemy drone” and targeted a vehicle.The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the reported strike.Israel has continued to launch raids on its neighbour despite a November truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah militants including two months of all-out war.Lebanon has reported four deadly strikes this week in the south, with Israel saying it targeted Hezbollah operatives.Under the ceasefire, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic”.The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.The truce was based on a United Nations Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.Last month, President Joseph Aoun said the army was deployed in more than 85 percent of the south, and that the sole obstacle to full control across the frontier area was “Israel’s occupation of five border positions”.Also in April, Lebanon’s military said a munitions blast in the south killed three personnel, days after an explosion killed another soldier as the force was dismantling mines in a tunnel.