Israel Strike in Southern Lebanon Kills Three Civilians

Israeli warplanes attacked the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least three civilians and wounding three others.

Lebanese sources say the attack reportedly hit a home in Bint Jbeil, killing three members of the same family. Israel claimed the attack struck a weapons storage facility and did not mention any civilian casualties.

That’s not unusual. Israel has been striking southern Lebanon on a near daily basis for over nine months, and official statements almost always present the attacks as targeting some sort of Hezbollah infrastructure. In reality, numerous civilian homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

The strike comes amid growing concern that the increased escalation of attacks at the Israel-Lebanon border will lead to a full-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon. With Israel already committed to an open-ended war in the Gaza Strip, there are questions about whether Israel has enough spare resources to start a second war.

Israeli military officials have been insisting for months that this isn’t a factor, and that they are more than ready to invade Lebanon at any moment. Concurrently, the international community has been trying to negotiate a settlement to prevent a war at all.

So far, the negotiations haven’t resulted in any sort of deal, which adds to speculation in the Israeli media that the invasion is a virtual inevitability. Hezbollah has said any deal in Lebanon must include  an end to the fighting in Gaza, but there is no indication Israel will end the Gaza war any time soon.