Hezbollah says it attacked ‘advancing’ Israeli force in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT – Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on June 15 it had attacked an Israeli force trying to advance in southern Lebanon despite the US-Iran agreement to end the Middle East war.

Fighters from the group “using rockets and drones” blocked an Israeli force consisting of an excavator and two Merkava tanks that was “advancing” in the vicinity of Kfar Tebnit town near the southern city of Nabatieh, Hezbollah said in a statement.

In another statement late on June 15, it added: “The enemy army regrouped its forces in the vicinity of the crossing area by bringing in an armored force consisting of five Merkava tanks and four vehicles.

“The mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance targeted them with rocket barrages and artillery shells, and the clashes are still ongoing”.

Earlier on June 15, an Israeli drone targeted a car in the same area “killing its driver,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, marking the first deadly strike since the agreement was announced.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric, said there had been fewer clashes on June 15.

“We just got an update from our peacekeeping colleagues at UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), who report that from midnight until 4pm local time today, UNIFIL observed a decrease in violence and exchanges of fire, recording 133 trajectories of projectiles and two airstrikes attributed to the IDF (Israel Defence Force).

“No trajectories from Hezbullah or non-State actors were reported during that time”.

Details of the agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts have not been made public, but Iran and mediator Pakistan have both said it includes Lebanon.

Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 3,700 people and displaced more than one million others.

An official source told AFP that “Lebanon was not informed of the terms of the agreement or the time of the ceasefire”. AFP