BEIRUT — Israeli forces carried out bombing operations in Mansouri, a town in southern Lebanon's Tyre district, after an improvised explosive device killed two soldiers and wounded four others during an operation against Hezbollah infrastructure.
The IED detonated around noon on Wednesday as Israeli troops entered a building in Majdal Zoun, also in Tyre district. The Israeli military said the blast constituted a "blatant violation of the ceasefire" by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group. Hezbollah has not publicly commented on the incident.
Later Wednesday, Israeli forces struck multiple locations in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese health ministry reported one killed and 12 wounded in a strike on Tibnin, 18 kilometers east of Majdal Zoun. Eight people were wounded in Burj al-Shamali from air and artillery strikes, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Following the initial strikes, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for Mansouri residents, the first such order for the town in over a month. An Israeli military source told Israeli media the order was issued because displaced residents had returned to the town under Lebanese army oversight, with the army establishing a checkpoint in violation of existing agreements.
The violence occurred as Israeli and Lebanese officials attended U.S.-sponsored talks in Rome aimed at preserving a ceasefire that ended hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. In late June, Israel, Lebanon and the United States agreed to a trilateral framework stipulating a gradual Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.
Hezbollah has publicly rejected the agreement, saying its provisions linking Israeli withdrawal to the group's disarmament "cross all red lines."
Two weeks before Wednesday's incident, the Lebanese army deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh following an Israeli withdrawal, marking one of the first pilot zones under the trilateral framework.
The two Israeli soldiers killed Wednesday are the first Israeli military fatalities in Lebanon since June 28.
