Israel wipes out villages, attacks civilians after US-led deal with Lebanese government

Israel has escalated its destructive attacks on south Lebanon, refusing to withdraw its occupation forces from the country, despite contradictory statements from the United States.

The occupying regime conducted a drone attack on the village of Kfar Dajjal in Southern Lebanon on Friday, leaving two people injured.

Amid systematic attacks on the civilian infrastructure in the southern regions that aim to displace their inhabitants, massive explosions rocked the town of al-Khiam and the village of al-Qantara.

More Lebanese homes were blown up by the occupation forces on Thursday in violation of the alleged ceasefire.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Israeli forces rigged and razed multiple homes across the country’s occupied towns and villages.

“Israeli occupation forces carried out a demolition operation targeting a number of homes in the town of Hadatha, in the Bint Jbeil District,” NNA reported.

The agency also reported rigging and detonation activities in the town of Houla, as well as overnight destruction of infrastructure in Khiam.

Five massive blasts in Khiam were heard across multiple areas of South Lebanon early on Thursday.

Demolitions were also reported in the town of Taybeh overnight, while Israel was simultaneously shelling the outskirts of Deir Siryan with artillery fire.

The attacks come as Israeli officials have publicly announced that Tel Aviv will not pull its occupation troops from Lebanon, despite US statements.

“We did not ask permission from any party to enter Lebanon, and we do not need permission to remain in Lebanon,” Israeli minister of military affairs Israel Katz said on Thursday.

“As [Israeli] prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have made clear, we will continue to remain in the security zone in Lebanon and operate from it for as long as necessary, until Hezbollah is disarmed,” he added.

That’s while US President Donald Trump claimed a day earlier that Israel had agreed to withdraw.

 “Yeah, I think they're going to. I think they want to. So, we have a deal with Israel and Lebanon. Yeah, they'll leave. And I think it's going to work out very well,” Trump said on Wednesday.

On June 26, a framework agreement was signed between the Beirut government and Tel Aviv under US mediation, that compromises Lebanon's sovereignty while securing no binding commitments from Israel in return.

Beirut’s free concessions embolden Israel, threaten Lebanon: Amal Movement

A member of Lebanon’s Amal Movement has sharply criticized the Beirut government for granting free concessions to Israel during direct negotiations with the regime, warning that such privileges threaten Lebanon.

Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and Hezbollah resistance movement have both rejected the deal’s provisions, stating that Israeli forces must withdraw from Lebanese territory.

Israel currently occupies at least six percent of Lebanese territory and continues demolishing border villages, while the agreement prevents Lebanon from pursuing international legal action against Tel Aviv despite thousands of Lebanese deaths and more than one million displaced since March.

The framework has been widely criticized for legitimizing Israel's continued occupation and weakening efforts to halt its military offensive against Lebanon. It also undercut Iran’s efforts to enforce the June memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Washington, which, among other things, calls for Israel to stop attacking Lebanon and respect its sovereignty.

Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, have vowed that the US-brokered Lebanon–Israel agreement “will not pass.”

Since March 2, the Israeli military's offensives in Lebanon have claimed the lives of at least 4,303 people and injured over 12,200, according to reports from Lebanese authorities, while also displacing more than one million individuals.

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