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Another airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyah killed
six people and wounded four, state-run National News Agency
said.
“The continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression
against Lebanon, its people and its army only strengthens our
resolve, faith and determination," the army said in its
statement.
It said Israel's attacks aim to thwart all efforts “to reach a
solution that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive
ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied
Lebanese territories.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the
airstrike that killed the troops.
The latest declared ceasefire came about through U.S.-brokered
talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses
Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts
to disarm it before the latest hostilities. The Lebanese
militant group has refused the truce.
The airstrikes came a day after Lebanon’s president and prime
minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal
between the Lebanese government and Israel, saying their country
should not be used by Tehran as a “bargaining chip” in its talks
with Washington.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded in a post on X
Saturday by saying that after President Joseph Aoun's comments
“one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon,
displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on
daily basis.”
“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal
long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,”
Araghchi said in reference to Israel.
The war began on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at
northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began their
attacks on Iran. Israel has since launched a ground invasion of
Lebanon and carried out wide attacks that have displaced more
than 1 million people.
Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing
further into the country’s south than at any time since the end
of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war
began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and
three civilians.
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