BEIRUT: Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 17 people on Monday, including women and children, as a renewed wave of attacks put further strain on a fragile ceasefire and raised fears of a wider escalation.
One of the overnight strikes hit a building in the town of Kfar Rumman, killing 11 people, including two children and four women.
Another attack in the same town killed a rescuer and wounded another, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
A later strike on Rihan, also in the south but further from the border with Israel, killed one person, while a strike on the city of Nabatieh wounded nine, including two children and three women.
Israel hit swathes of south Lebanon hard during the Middle East war that erupted with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and its forces continue to occupy what it calls a “security zone”.
Israel just bombed residential neighborhoods in Lebanon, violating UNSCR 1701, the signed agreement, international law, with absolutely no consequences.
Yet, the ICC and UN High Commissioner for human rights remain silent.
Not a word, nor a condemnation! As if we are not humans pic.twitter.com/ko0bdrDXUj
— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) September 6, 2026
Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it “will continue to operate to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement”.
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In a separate statement, it said it killed a Hezbollah member in the area of the Beaufort fortress who opened fire on its troops from inside a building, and that “during the close-quarters encounter, two IDF soldiers were lightly injured”.
School books in the rubble
Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
On Monday, Israel’s foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of “repeated drone attacks” and “attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon”.
The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.
The rescuer who was killed was just 18 years old, according to his civil defence organisation, which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.
An AFP photographer saw that the building that was hit in Kfar Rumman had been destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.
Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning for other victims.
Villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.
“Since we returned here, we’ve lived in fear,” Fouad Chakaron told AFP.
He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by “peaceful people with no connection to anyone”.
Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP’s photographer said.
The NNA later reported additional strikes on the Nabatieh area, and controlled detonations of unexploded munitions in at least two parts of the south.
I couldn’t believe it
Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate attack in nearby Deir Zahrani.
“They called me at 2:00 am and told me to get out of the house because it is being targeted,” resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP, referring to the Israeli army.
“I said that’s impossible; why is my house being targeted? There’s nothing in it. I couldn’t believe it.”
He said he took his wife, children and elderly mother outside in their pyjamas and they stood on the street watching their house be destroyed.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed seven people. Attacks on Friday killed four.
Hezbollah has not claimed any attack since June 20.
—Photo from Social media
Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared “security zone” around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.
