Israeli strikes kill 3, wound 23 in Lebanon, ministry says

Israeli strikes killed at least three people and wounded 23 in southern and eastern Lebanon late on Friday, Lebanon's health ministry said.

The ministry said the strikes hit five locations in the southern Tyr and Nabatieh regions and the eastern Bekaa region.

In Rmadiyeh, in the Tyre area more than 10 kilometres from the Israeli border, one person was killed and 15 others were wounded, including two children, three women and six rescuers, the ministry said. A rescue service source told AFP the strike hit a house in a village sheltering people displaced from other southern areas.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two young men were killed while riding a motorcycle in the southern city of Nabatieh and that rescuers took their bodies to a local hospital.

The agency said the Nabatieh strike hit near the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. The Israeli army has said it captured the ridge, but Hezbollah has not confirmed losing it.

Israel announced on Thursday that it had taken control of the ridge. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would act to stop what he called the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area.

The strikes came despite a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since March, after Hezbollah attacked 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 were agreed in June, but Beirut still reports Israeli strikes.

Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, said families returning to Nabatieh after the truce face widespread destruction, lack of basic services, insecurity and uncertainty.