Lebanese media reported on Tuesday that a series of Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, in what they described as the first such reports since the U.S.-Iran agreement was signed. According to Al Mayadeen, a channel identified with Hezbollah, Israeli drones carried out three strikes against vehicles traveling in the villages of Mifadoun and Shoukin.
The report said a fourth strike later targeted people who had gathered near the site of the first vehicle strike. Lebanese accounts said four people were killed and several others were wounded. The reports came shortly after Hezbollah claimed earlier in the day that it had received an Iranian assurance that the deal with Washington would not be signed unless it included a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that IDF forces would not leave southern Lebanon. In response to Hezbollah's claims, Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, told NPR, "We are staying in southern Lebanon to protect the people of Israel, as any self-respecting country would do."
Asked about the Iranian claim that the agreement obligates Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, Leiter said, "The administration was clear that the agreement has nothing to do with our withdrawal from southern Lebanon. We are not going to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and the madmen in Tehran have no business sticking their nose in."
He added that Israel welcomed President Donald Trump's determination to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but was less pleased that Lebanon had been included in the agreement, calling that unnecessary and unhelpful.
