Israel continued with their airstrikes against southern Lebanon again today, hitting the area around the city of the Sidon overnight but then also went after a house in the town of Khirbet Selm early Tuesday. A three-storey building in Sidon was reportedly leveled, though no casualties have been reported yet.
The Khirbet Selm strike killed two people and wounded one other, according to the Lebanese National News Agency. The IDF issued a statement claiming they had targeted “Hezbollah operatives” but provided no evidence that was the case.
This came after a flurry of strikes across Lebanon on Monday, which nominally targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas, though in practice it was unclear if any of the casualties in the attacks were actually affiliated with either group.
Israeli strike on house in southern Lebanon | Image from X
All these attacks come just ahead of a scheduled meeting by the ceasefire committee, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun saying he believes the timing of the strikes “raises many questions” and was an attempt to thwart regional efforts to stop the escalation.
Israeli artillery also fired artillery against Wadi Alma and Aita al-Shaab, according to reports. It is unclear what those strikes intended to target, and the IDF did not issue a statement on the matter offering any sort of pretext.
Though the IDF claimed that the strike on Khirbet Selm was meant to retaliate against Hezbollah “ceasefire violations,” they neither provided evidence that Hezbollah had anything to do with the house they attacked, nor that such violations actually happened. By contrast, Israel has committed thousands of violations since that ceasefire went into place, including today’s attacks.
