An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed two people on Friday, Lebanese official media said, despite a truce with Iran-backed Hezbollah. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported the strike hit near the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge, which the Israeli army said it had captured, though Hezbollah did not confirm losing it. Two young men were "targeted while riding a motorcycle" in the city of Nabatieh, NNA said, adding that rescuers transported their bodies to a local hospital. Israel announced on Thursday it had taken control of the ridge. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would work to "prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area". Israel stepped up strikes in the Nabatieh region on Friday and also targeted the village of Rmadiyeh in the Tyre area, located more than 10 kilometers from the Israeli border, according to the NNA. The strike in the village, which is sheltering people displaced from other southern areas, hit a house and injured four people, a rescue service source told AFP. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since March when the militant group dragged Lebanon into the wider Middle East war by attacking Israel in support of Iran. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people. The conflict has calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon agreed in June, but Israeli strikes have continued. Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, said on X on Friday that families returning to Nabatieh following the truce "face widespread destruction, lack of basic services, ongoing insecurity and uncertainty".
