Israeli airstrikes on a village in southern Lebanon kill 12 people, including 2 children

KFAR RUMMAN, Lebanon (AP) — Israel’s air force carried out two airstrikes early Monday on a southern Lebanese village, killing at least 12 people and wounding others, including children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Monday’s strikes came amid a new round of escalation between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group despite a truce reached more than two months ago. The strikes also came days after Israel’s military said it is in “operational control” of the strategic Ali Taher hill that overlooks several villages as well as main roads leading to the city of Nabatiyeh.

The Health Ministry said one of the strikes hit a building, killing 11 people, including two children and four women. Eight were also wounded, including three children and a paramedic.

The ministry said that another strike on a car in the village killed a paramedic with the Lebanese Islamic Risala Scout Association and wounded two others.

The Israeli military said the strikes come in retaliation for two Hezbollah drone attacks that exploded while targeting Israeli troops in Lebanon from the area on Monday. It said the strikes targeted a Hezbollah militant trying to transport weapons to Kfar Rumman.

Hezbollah did not claim the attacks nor immediately issue a statement on the intensifying strikes around Nabatiyeh province.

“We have been living in constant anxiety amid shelling on the outskirts,” said Kfar Rumman resident Fouad Chakaron as he stood in front of the destroyed building. “Now they struck the heart of the town.”

Another resident, Saleh Medlej, pointed to the destroyed building and said this was home to families with children. “Are there missiles here?” he asked in reference to the building where the families lived.

“I will not leave this place,” Medlej said, vowing to stay in his hometown despite the airstrikes and shelling.

Earlier Monday, Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for a home in the village of Deir al-Zahrani and shortly afterward a building was struck. The military said the strike was in retaliation for a drone attack by Hezbollah militants. There was no word on casualties.

In a separate statement also on Monday, the Israeli military said Israeli troops operating near the Crusader-built Beaufort castle came under fire by a Hezbollah member who was inside a house, lightly wounding two of them. The troops later killed the militant.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon and leveled an empty hospital.

The strikes came days after Israel released five Lebanese prisoners as part of a deal between the two countries. In return, Lebanon agreed to search for the bodies of Jewish Lebanese citizens who went missing during the country’s civil war decades ago.

A U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hezbollah has been repeatedly violated, with Israel carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah firing drones at Israeli troops.

Lebanon and Israel in June signed a U.S.-mediated framework deal under which Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but little progress has been made in its implementation.

Hezbollah is not a party to the Lebanon-Israel talks and has said it will not give up its weapons in any area north of southern Lebanon’s Litani River. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said they will not withdraw unless Hezbollah is disarmed throughout the country.

Kfar Rumman’s mayor, Abdullah Farhat, described what happened in the village as “a massacre in every sense of the word.” He blasted the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, saying that Lebanese leaders “signed deals and we are paying the price here.”

“There is an enemy that is not concerned about anything,” Farhat said, referring to strikes that have been ongoing since the deal was signed.

___ Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.