Israeli strikes kill 7 in Lebanon, including Islamic Jihad commander

Israeli strikes killed seven people in Lebanon on Sunday, including an Islamic Jihad commander, Lebanese authorities and state media said, despite a fragile ceasefire as Hezbollah called US-brokered talks between the two countries a “dead end”.

The health ministry published a “preliminary toll” for Israel’s strikes on Sunday, with three people killed in the town of Tayr Felsay, including a child, and two killed in the town of Tayr Debba, including another child.

It said 11 people were wounded in those strikes and four more were wounded in strikes in two other southern towns.

Later Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said an Israeli missile strike around midnight on a flat on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek in the country’s east had killed Islamic Jihad commander Wael Abdel Halim and his 17-year-old daughter.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to strike widely in southern Lebanon and issues frequent evacuation warnings to towns and villages across the south.

Two Israeli strikes also hit the town of Sohmor in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Sunday, the state-run NNA said.

The Israeli army later issued an evacuation warning to four villages near the southern coastal city of Sidon, dozens of kilometres from the border area, which were also subject to an evacuation warning on Saturday.