Israel Kills 8 in Lebanon              06/02 06:11

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 
eight people, including a father and his son and daughter, a day after U.S. 
President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to dial back fighting.

   Israel threatened on Monday to strike Beirut's southern suburbs, causing 
panic in the Lebanese capital as thousands fled to safer areas and Hezbollah 
fired rockets at northern Israel. Israeli forces recently made their deepest 
incursion into Lebanon in 26 years, but Beirut has been mostly spared over the 
past six weeks, apart from two targeted attacks on the city's southern suburbs 
in May.

   Trump later announced after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu and communicating with the Lebanese militant group through mediators 
that "there will be no Troops going to Beirut."

   Lebanon's State-run National News Agency reported Tuesday that an Israeli 
drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with 
the city of Nabatiyeh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the nearby Christian 
town of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son. The Lebanese army said two 
soldiers were lightly wounded when a separate drone targeted them on a road 
outside the city.

   A drone strike on the village of Jibchit killed two Syrians who worked at a 
plant nursery, the agency reported, while another on the nearby village of Toul 
killed two people. A third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing 
one person.

   NNA also reported that an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed six in the 
southern village of Marwaniyeh.

   Hezbollah said Tuesday its fighters fired anti-tank missiles on Israeli 
troops who were pushing into the southern village of Hadatha, about 7 
kilometers (4 miles) from the Israeli border. Sirens sounded in several areas 
in northern Israel, the military said in a statement, adding that "a suspicious 
aerial target" was identified in the area in which Israeli soldiers are 
operating in southern Lebanon, and that no injuries were reported.

   Despite a Washington-brokered ceasefire reached in April, the two sides have 
continued to exchange strikes after Israel targeted areas in Lebanon, saying it 
was for self-defense.

   The latest exchanges came as a second round of talks between Israel and 
Lebanon is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, where Lebanese 
negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks. 
The Israel-Lebanon talks that began in April in Washington were the first in 
more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic 
relations.

   The fighting presents a major obstacle to the emerging deal to extend the 
ceasefire in the Iran war that erupted after the United States and Israel 
struck the Islamic Kingdom on Feb.28. Tehran wants any agreement to include a 
complete ceasefire in Lebanon.

   Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.

   The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,433 
people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people. According to 
Netanyahu's office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have 
been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in 
northern Israel.

   Israel's military said late Monday that a soldier was killed in southern 
Lebanon. It added that seven more soldiers were wounded in the incident, three 
of them severely.

   Hezbollah's use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the 
Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.