Smoke billows from Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon after reported IDF strikes
Fighting raged in Lebanon on Saturday amid hopes that a potential agreement for the resolution of the conflict between the United States and Iran would also cover the wartorn country.
A raid by Israeli forces killed a mayor in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Rihan on Saturday as they launched heavy fire on 19 areas, while the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah targeted Israeli troops elsewhere in the country.
Two other people were killed in separate raids, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), after the Israeli military attacked Tyre, Jezzine and Nabatiyeh. Israeli planes also struck the towns of Seddiqine, Borj Qalaouiyah, Majdal Zoun and Al-Kanisa, including a raid on a church, NNA reported.
The Israeli military issued evacuation statements for residents in four areas – Ghassaniyah, Zarrariyah, Kothriyah Al-Reez Farm, and Sir Al-Gharbiyah – on Saturday. The UN previously warned the breadth of such blanket orders could amount to “prohibited forced displacement.”
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
The Israeli military claimed to have “struck more than 70 Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites” in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 19 attacks on Israeli army posts Friday through Saturday, in statements on Telegram.
Tehran has insisted that Israeli forces halt attacks in Lebanon, warning an agreement with Washington must involve a ceasefire there. The memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, which has not yet been signed, will include a resolution for the conflict of Lebanon “and all other fronts,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state television Friday. Hezbollah also said it was confident Iran would insist that Lebanon was included in a deal with the US, Reuters reported.
But Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops would not withdraw from occupied areas in Lebanon. He doubled down on the military’s intent to “act against both near and distant threats.”
Israeli attacks have killed 3,756 people and injured 11,632 others in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported on Saturday. Meanwhile, 30 Israeli soldiers have been killed along with 24 civilians, according to the Israeli military.
CNN’s Eugenia Yosef and Oren Liebermann contributed reporting.