Five killed in Israeli strike on Lebanon, but claim some were US citizens is being disputed
By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Charbel Mallo, CNN
(CNN) — Five people were killed Sunday by an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government, but claims several US citizens were among the dead are now being disputed.
Israel’s military said it had “struck and eliminated” a Hezbollah operator in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, but acknowledged that “several uninvolved civilians” were also killed in the strike.
“The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible. The incident is under review,” it said in a statement.
Lebanon’s Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, claimed in a statement Sunday that four US citizens – a father and three of his children – were among those killed. Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji said the mother of the American family was injured and in critical condition.
However, a US State Department spokesperson disputed the claim. “While the situation is fluid, so far, indications are that the five killed were not US citizens,” they told CNN.
Lebanese state-run NNA news reported that a drone had fired two missiles at a motorcycle and a Mercedes car. In the car, the father and his children were killed. The motorcyclist, the apparent target of the strike, was also killed.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the attack as a “massacre” against civilians, adding that the Israeli strike constituted a “message of intimidation targeting our people returning to their villages in the south.”
He urged the international community to condemn Israel “in the strongest terms for its repeated violations of international resolutions and international law.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said it was “shocked and outraged by the killing of three children from the same family in an airstrike in South Lebanon,” in a post on X on Sunday.
“Attacks on children are unconscionable,” UNICEF added.
“No child should ever pay the price of conflict with their life. Hostilities must cease immediately to ensure the protection of every child,” it said.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in November last year.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who’s in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said Israel is “persisting in its continuous violations of international resolutions, foremost among them the ceasefire agreement,” in reaction to the attack.
“From New York, we appeal to the international community, whose leaders are present in the halls of the United Nations, to make every effort to put an end to the violations of international resolutions,” Aoun said in a statement on Sunday. “There can be no peace over the blood of our children,” he added.
Sunday’s attack comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s earlier remarks in a cabinet meeting regarding Israel’s “victories in Lebanon against Hezbollah” that have allowed for peace talks with its northern neighbor, Syria.
CNN’s Caitlin Danaher contributed to this report.
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