One Killed in Israeli Drone Strike on Southern Lebanon

The Lebanese health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on the south on Saturday despite a ceasefire, as the Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah militant. "The Israeli enemy drone strike that targeted a vehicle" in Tyre district "killed one person", a ministry statement said. The Israeli military said that it "struck and eliminated" a Hezbollah commander who was "involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organisation in the area of Bint Jbeil" near the border. It did not specify where the strike took place. Also Saturday, the Lebanese army said an Israel drone "carrying a hand grenade" came down near the border town of Mais al-Jabal, publishing pictures of the aircraft before troops detonated the munition and removed the drone for inspection. Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war.

It has warned it will continue to strike until the Iran-backed militant group has been disarmed. Under the truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic.