Fresh Israeli airstrikes have hit multiple locations in south Lebanon, state media said, underscoring the fragility of a peace deal tied to the wider Middle East war that also covers Lebanon.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes struck the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area as well as the eastern outskirts of the nearby town of Kfar Tebnit.
- Advertisement -
NNA also said Israel carried out a drone strike on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area.
The attacks came after a rare public criticism of Israel’s military approach in Lebanon, where US Donald Trump said it was unjustified to level entire apartment buildings in the pursuit of Hezbollah militants.
“Too many people have been killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Mr Trump said at the G7 summit in France yesterday.
His remarks landed amid renewed strain with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a crucial political ally whose relationship with Mr Trump has endured periodic tension over the years.
In recent days, those tensions have become harder to ignore.
Israeli officials have been quietly voicing frustration over the Iran deal struck by the Republican president, while Mr Trump has grown increasingly impatient with Mr Netanyahu over Israeli strikes on Beirut, which prompted Iranian attacks at the very moment he was trying to complete the peace deal.
Mr Trump said he has a “great relationship” with Mr Netanyahu but also said he should be “more responsible” with Lebanon.
Smoke rises from a site struck by Israeli artillery in the southern village of Kfar Tibnit
“Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”
The two men have repeatedly been at odds over Israel’s refusal to limit its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a halt in fighting remains a central Iranian demand.
Mr Trump and other US presidents rarely criticise Israel’s battlefield tactics in public.
Not long after he delivered the remarks, an official White House social media account that usually posts clips of his public appearances shared video of those specific comments.
The White House did not explain why the official account highlighted Mr Trump’s remarks, but said the president maintains a strong relationship with Mr Netanyahu and described the Israel Defence Forces as “incredible partners”.
“There has been no greater friend to Israel and a fighter for peace than President Trump…Americans and our allies around the world are already safer for the United States and Israel’s bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said.
There is no sign that Mr Trump’s comments will translate into concrete policy pressure strong enough to make Israel alter its military tactics to provide greater protection for civilians.
Israel has come under intense criticism from other countries, particularly over its assault on Gaza, which has killed 73,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel says it does not target non-combatants and argues that militant groups including Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah routinely use civilians as human shields.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment for this story.
