Eleven Lebanese, including a soldier, were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting towns and villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported on Saturday, June 20, that a Lebanese army soldier was killed in a raid on the Kafr Rumman roundabout, while a raid carried out by an Israeli drone on the town of Sahamar in the western Bekaa resulted in one death and a number of injuries.
In the district of Tyre, the Israeli bombardment on the town of Barish resulted in the death of 5 people, and a raid from the town of Deir Qanun Ras al-Ain was targeted, while the outskirts of the town of Majdal Zone were subjected to artillery shelling, and the Israeli enemy aircraft launched raids on the towns of Burj Qalawiya and Shohour, in conjunction with intensive drone overflights in the airspace of the western and central sectors from the south.
In the Jezzine area, the Israeli airstrikes targeted the heights of Sajd and Al-Rayhan, as well as the areas of Al-Jabour in Kafr Houna and Shabil in Al-Qatrani, amid the continued shelling of the Al-Rayhan Heights, which was subjected to four consecutive raids.
Five people were killed in a series of intensive Israeli raids targeting several towns in southern Lebanon, amid the destruction of homes and residential buildings.
An Israeli strike targeted the town of Arabsalim in the south, killing three people, while another raid targeted the town of Deir al-Zahrani, killing one person, while a motorcycle was targeted at the eastern entrance to the town of Al-Dweir, and also killed one person.
The Israeli aircraft also launched sporadic raids targeting the towns of Nabatieh Al-Fuqa, Al-Numeiriya, Shawkin, Haboush and Kafr Jawz, where the shelling led to the destruction of a number of houses and residential buildings, as well as Jabal al-Rafi on the eastern outskirts of Arabsalim, and the towns of Zabdeen, Sajded and Mazraat al-Mahmoudiya near Al-Ishiya, while Israeli artillery bombarded the city of Nabatieh and its surroundings at dawn.
The occupation planes committed a horrific massacre in the town of Barish, which resulted in the death of an entire family of five, in parallel with raids on Baya and Samar in the western Bekaa and Shahur, in which one person was killed and four were wounded. The Civil Defense members in Nabatieh carried out extensive ambulance and evacuation operations, including the transfer of 47 citizens to safe areas and the recovery of 16 dead 12 were wounded, amid artillery shelling on relief teams in Qabrikha, rockets fell in Hasbaya, and the occupation forces carried out a huge bombing operation in the town of Al-Bayada in the district of Tyre.
Airstrikes threaten de-escalation paths
Politically, NBC News quoted the US intelligence agency as serious warnings that the ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon could seriously jeopardize the peace agreement between Washington and Tehran. The American website "Axios" reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told a number of his international counterparts that the ceasefire is a very critical issue for Tehran, stressing that it must actually enter into force before heading to Switzerland, and attacking the statements of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who Araqchi called for the burning of Lebanon, where Araqchi described Tel Aviv officials as a "death and genocide squad" that seeks to perpetuate the war without end, in response to calls by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to "open the gates of hell" with fire.
The US State Department announced its intention to sponsor a new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, D.C., from June 23 to 25, to discuss the consolidation of the ceasefire and the application of an experimental model that would require the deployment of the Lebanese army in specific areas in the south in exchange for the withdrawal of the occupation and the withdrawal of Hezbollah's arms. US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott revealed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a phone call to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, praising his courage to seize this historic opportunity to strengthen sovereignty Lebanon, and reiterated Washington's support for the establishment of a fully sovereign state that lives in peace and ends the repeated cycles of violence.
The Resistance Response and Israeli Positions
Hezbollah responded to the violations by targeting a tank belonging to the 52nd Battalion under the command of the "Givati" Brigade with a booby-trapped march, which, according to Hebrew media, resulted in the death of an officer and three soldiers, followed by the death of another Israeli soldier and the wounding of seven wounded by Hezbollah fire in the Ali al-Taher area as a result of repelling the incursion attempts in Kafr Tibnit.
In a speech, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, explained that the party has taken an irreversible "Karbala" decision to defend and liberate the land, stressing the drop of the project aimed at ending the existence of the resistance, which has developed its weapons and fighting methods since March 2, and revealing the details of a conspiracy led by the United States that includes a financial blockade and the closure of the crossings, as well as the withdrawal of Washington and Tel Aviv from the agreement of November 27, 2024 following the fall of the regime in Syria, which rejected pressure to form pincers against the resistance.
A senior party official told Reuters that the group would not in any way allow freedom of movement to occupy Lebanese territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office remained completely silent without issuing any comment, while the Israeli military claimed that stability would be achieved if Hezbollah stopped violating the truce, claiming that its problem was not with Lebanon but with the party.
The Israeli ambassador in Washington stated that Tel Aviv has stopped its offensive operations and will meet calm with calm if the party sticks, adding that their forces will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon to completely dismantle the structure of the resistance.
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