Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes in south

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli air strikes killed two people in the south on Friday, with Israel announcing attacks in the same areas targeting Hezbollah militants.

Despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel has continued to conduct near-daily strikes in Lebanon.

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An Israeli attack on “a car on the Sidon-Ghaziyeh road resulted in one dead,” a Lebanese health ministry statement said on the fourth straight day of Israeli attacks in the south.

Hours later, the ministry said another Israeli strike on a vehicle around Aita al-Shaab had also killed one.

Israel’s military said it had “conducted a precise strike in the area of Sidon and eliminated the Hezbollah terrorist Muhammad Jaafar Mannah Asaad Abdallah.”

It said Abdallah was “responsible, among other things, for the deployment of Hezbollah’s communication systems throughout Lebanon.”

On Friday evening, it announced “a Hezbollah terrorist was struck and eliminated by the (Israeli military) in the area of” Aita al-Shaab.

An AFP journalist said the Israeli attack in Sidon had hit a four-wheel-drive vehicle, sending a column of black smoke into the sky.

At the scene of the strike, members of the security forces stood guard as a crowd gathered to look at the charred remains of the vehicle after firefighters had put out the blaze.

The Israeli military has also said it was behind other attacks this week that it said killed Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah, significantly weakened by the war, insists it is adhering to the November ceasefire, even as Israeli attacks persist.

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