Israeli airstrikes killed at least 11 people in southern Lebanon early Saturday in the heaviest barrage since a US-brokered framework agreement took hold in June, drawing condemnation from Lebanon's president and a vow of retaliation from Hezbollah just weeks before the next round of negotiations in Rome.
The first strike hit Ansar, near Nabatieh, killing seven people including three children and two women, according to Lebanon's health ministry. A second strike hours later hit Deir al-Zahrani, killing at least four more and wounding 17. The Israeli military said the raids targeted "a central headquarters" of Hezbollah's Radwan Force and killed a battalion commander, Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, accusing the group of placing the site near civilians.
Israel said the strikes came in response to an explosive drone that struck its troops near the Ali Taher Ridge before dawn, seriously wounding three soldiers from the Yahalom combat engineering unit. Hezbollah has not claimed that attack, but the group warned that Israel's strikes "will be met with an appropriate response" and rejected what it called a "humiliating" negotiating track.
A fragile framework under strain
The exchange is the most serious test yet of the framework Israel and Lebanon reached in Washington in June, which calls for Hezbollah's gradual disarmament, a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from the south, and deployment of the Lebanese army into designated "pilot zones" in place of Israeli forces. A seventh round of US-mediated talks was held earlier this month, with an eighth expected in Rome in early September.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Saturday's strikes were "a clear message on the negotiations process and American efforts aiming to implement this agreement." Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has played a central role in the talks, called on "the sponsors of the negotiations and the ceasefire agreements to bear their responsibility ... before it's too late."
Israel's ambassador to the talks process, Yechiel Leiter, cautioned against using the incident to derail the broader agreement, and US officials have urged both sides to stay committed to the June framework despite the flare-up. Neither government has signaled it intends to walk away from the Rome round.
What comes next
The strikes leave the ceasefire framework intact on paper but badly strained in practice, with Hezbollah's leadership under pressure from its base to respond and Israel signaling it will keep striking targets it links to the group's rearmament. Diplomats say the coming weeks, including the run-up to the Rome talks, will test whether the deal can survive its first serious round of violence since June.
