Israeli air attacks kill at least 11 people in southern Lebanon

Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 11 people, including two children and two medics, Lebanese state media reported.

Israeli warplanes hit a residential building early on Monday in the town of Kfar Reman in southern Lebanon, killing nine people including two children, and wounding five others, Lebanon’s National News ‌Agency (NNA) reported.

A separate Israeli drone attack on a civilian vehicle in the town killed two medics inside the car, NNA said.

The Israeli military also struck a residential area in the town of Deir al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon overnight after it issued a forced evacuation order. The army says it targeted a building near a Hezbollah facility, which it claims was used to launch an explosive drone.

The attacks come a day after at least seven people were killed and 20 others were wounded in Israeli air raids on the nearby town of Arab Salim, also in the Nabatieh district .

Attacks have continued despite a United States-brokered framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon in June, which launched a “pilot zone” plan.

The pilot zones are meant to act as a test area for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and for the Israelis to withdraw, although they still occupy dozens of villages in southern Lebanon and Israel has refused further withdrawals, leading to a “stalled” diplomatic process, according to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr.

Reporting from Kfar Reman, Khodr said “uncertainty and fear” are now the prevailing feelings in southern Lebanon, as people had started returning to the region and rebuilding their homes with the hope that attacks would stop after the Lebanon-Israel deal was signed in June.

“The feeling here is that Israel is trying to impose or establish new rules of engagement,” Khodr said. “People just do not know what is next. There’s been a wave of Israeli attacks over the past 48 hours. Civilians are being killed. Residential homes are being destroyed.”

“Recovery efforts by civil defence workers are continuing. They’ve been here throughout the night, but it’s no longer a rescue operation,” Khodr added. “It’s a recovery operation.”

Israeli strikes ⁠on Lebanon have killed more than 4,350 people and wounded over 12,300 since the conflict escalated in early March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. It said in a report on Wednesday that there had been 179 Israeli attacks on Lebanese ambulance crews since March 2, killing 135 healthcare workers.

Though the US-brokered deal between Lebanon and Israel ‌saw violence decrease, Israeli forces have continued razing villages in its so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon, carrying out air strikes both within the zone and to its north, mostly without forced evacuation orders.