Israel on Sunday threatened to strike Hezbollah again if threatened, announcing the death of a second military official in the militant group during raids carried out Saturday on southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it killed Abu Hassan Alaa, described as a prominent commander in Hezbollah's Badr unit, in a strike on the Deir al-Zahrani area. The military said Alaa had participated in planning terrorist attacks against Israeli forces, including deploying explosives-laden drones.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said 11 people died in the Saturday dawn strikes on southern Lebanon, including three children, with casualties in the towns of Ansariyah and Deir al-Zahrani. The ministry said among the dead was an entire family and that 19 others were wounded. Israel's military said Saturday that it had struck a Hezbollah command center in Ansariyah and killed Smir al-Haj Hassan, described as a sector commander in Hezbollah's Radwan Force, along with other operatives. The military said civilians present at the military facility during the strike were Hassan's family members.
Israel's Prime Minister's Office said Saturday that three soldiers were seriously wounded in a Hezbollah attack, and that the Israeli military responded by striking the command post that had ordered the assault. The statement said Hezbollah had violated a ceasefire in Lebanon by attacking Israeli forces in a security zone protecting Israeli settlements across the border. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the "ongoing Israeli aggressions" on the south and said the strikes violated a framework agreement and international law protecting civilians. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the seven people killed in the Ansariyah strike, including women and children, were not military targets and called on Israel to halt the escalation.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Sunday that the United States remained committed to a phased plan in Lebanon as the only solution, and that President Donald Trump supports the three-way framework consistent with regional stability and preventing further conflict. The spokesman said the phased approach remained the only viable path to long-term peace and security for Lebanon and Israel, and expected the Lebanese military to complete "clearing" operations in initial phased zones, with expansion to follow after verification. The spokesman held Hezbollah responsible for the recent escalation, saying it had been the main obstacle to Lebanon's economic recovery and the greatest threat to Lebanese security and stability, and should disarm and dissolve.
Hezbollah said in a Saturday statement that Israeli attacks would be met with an "appropriate" response and called on Lebanese authorities to halt what it called humiliating negotiations with Israel. An eighth round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, sponsored by the United States, is scheduled for early next month in Rome. Saturday's death toll was the highest in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in a single day since a ceasefire understanding between the United States and Iran in June, and since a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel on June 26 that led to a significant reduction in violence. The framework agreement, reached after five rounds of American-sponsored talks, calls for Hezbollah to disarm and for Israeli forces to gradually withdraw from occupied territory in southern Lebanon.
