Israel kills 14 in southern Lebanon after trading fire with Iran

Israeli forces have killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens in air attacks across southern Lebanon after Iran warned of “crushing measures” if Israel presses ahead with its assault on the country.

The killings on Monday came after Iran and Israel traded fire in the most significant escalation since their “ceasefire” began on April 8.

The flare-up was triggered by an Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Sunday.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, an Israeli strike near a Red Cross centre in the southern coastal city of Tyre killed five people and wounded eight others, including four paramedics.

The bombardment also damaged a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tyre, and authorities warned residents remaining in the city to avoid public gatherings.

Further north, an Israeli air strike on al-Marwaniyah in the Sidon district killed two people, including a child. Ten others were wounded, including four women.

A third Israeli strike on Zefta in the Nabatieh district killed seven people and wounded eight. A Syrian child and a woman were among the victims. Israeli artillery also shelled the nearby village of Touline.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which has been fighting invading Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, claimed to have carried out 16 operations against Israeli forces, including near the strategic Beaufort Castle.

The group said it had targeted and destroyed two Israeli military bulldozers in the village of Yohmor al-Shaqif near the castle and struck multiple enemy troop concentrations. It also said it intercepted an Israeli drone operating in the airspace over Iqlim al-Tuffah.

Lebanon was drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran on March 2, when the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, citing continued Israeli attacks on the country and the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28.

While the US and Iran agreed a ceasefire on April 8, Israel has not halted its campaign in Lebanon, insisting the two fronts are separate.

Iran, however, has long maintained that any peace deal with Washington must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.

Announcing the end of its strikes on Israel on Monday, Iran’s military warned that continued aggression – including in southern Lebanon – would be met with “much more severe and crushing measures”.

But Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz rejected the warning, pledging to press ahead with operations against Hezbollah and to launch attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs in response to any strikes on northern Israel.