Key facts
- Israeli airstrikes in Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, killed at least 12 people, including two children and two medics.
- The strikes destroyed a three-storey residential building and a car.
- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks as a dangerous escalation.
- Aoun stated the attacks jeopardized a US-brokered ceasefire.
- Lebanon supports renewing the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).
Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman killed at least 12 people, including two children and two medics, according to Lebanese state media. The strikes, which occurred shortly after midnight, reportedly destroyed a three-storey residential building and a car.
The Israeli military stated it was investigating reports that its troops operating near the Crusader-built Beaufort castle came under fire by a Hezbollah member, lightly wounding two soldiers, and that the militant was subsequently killed. These strikes follow similar Israeli attacks on Sunday that killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon and leveled an empty hospital.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks, civilian deaths, and destruction, warning that they constituted a "dangerous escalation" and jeopardized a US-brokered ceasefire agreed upon in June. He stated that Lebanon supports renewing the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) and welcomed a French and Italian initiative to form a European force to fill the void after UNIFIL’s withdrawal. Kfar Rumman’s mayor, Abdullah Farhat, described the event as “a massacre in every sense of the word” and criticized Lebanese leaders for signing deals while residents paid the price.
A U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hezbollah has been repeatedly violated, with Israel carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah firing drones at Israeli troops. Lebanon and Israel signed a U.S.-mediated framework deal in June for Israeli withdrawal in exchange for Hezbollah disarmament, but little progress has been made.