Lebanon’s military said Saturday an Israeli strike targeted an army barracks in the country’s south, wounding a soldier, despite a ceasefire in the war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“A soldier was moderately wounded due to the hostile Israeli targeting of an army barracks in the city of Nabatieh,” the army said, in a statement on social media.
Earlier, Israel warned the residents of 10 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately to avoid planned air strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets.
“In light of the terrorist Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is compelled to act forcefully against it. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by a distance of no less than 1,000 meters into open areas.”
South Lebanon hospital damaged as Israel keeps up strikes
Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon on Saturday, hours after overnight raids on the country’s south and east, including one that damaged a hospital, its chief executive told AFP.
Israel’s military has been pounding Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire, while Lebanese movement Hezbollah has also kept up attacks.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on around a dozen locations in the south on Saturday including one targeting an agricultural area, “wounding several Syrian workers”.
The NNA said an overnight strike in the southern city of Tyre that targeted a site near the hospital caused “severe damage” to the facility.
An AFP correspondent saw shattered glass, ceiling panels blown out and damaged medical equipment at the multi-storey Hiram hospital.
The Israeli military late on Friday night had issued evacuation warnings ahead of strikes on two locations in Tyre, saying it would target “Hezbollah facilities”.
Accompanying maps advised people to leave areas within 500 metres (yards) of the target buildings, with the Hiram hospital shown within the advised evacuation area.
The hospital’s CEO Dr Salman Aydibi told AFP that around 40 patients were in the facility when the warning was issued, including seven in intensive care.
“We took the patients to a safer location” elsewhere inside the hospital, he said, adding that none were harmed but some 30 staff sustained minor injuries.
He said an evaluation of the damage was ongoing and that the hospital has remained operational, though the emergency department briefly closed.
He said it was the third strike near the facility since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.
Israel’s army said Saturday that it had targeted “Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Tyre” overnight where operatives from the Iran-backed group worked to “plan and execute attacks” against Israeli soldiers.
“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the issuing of advance warnings, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance,” it added.
Another AFP correspondent saw heavy damage at both targeted sites in Tyre, with a man searching for his belongings among the debris at one location.
Israel’s army also targeted east Lebanon overnight, saying it struck a “Hezbollah underground compound” used to manufacture weapons.
Lebanon’s Hamas-aligned Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing the Al-Fajr Forces said Saturday in a statement that one of its members was killed in an Israeli strike in east Lebanon.
Under the terms of the ceasefire published by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”.
