Three Israeli drone strikes on cars on a major highway linking Beirut to southern Lebanon have killed at least eight people, including two children, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported.
A photograph of the bombed cars shared by Lebanon’s National News Agency following the attacks on Wednesday in the Jiyeh area, some 20km (12 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, showed the vehicles severely damaged, their exteriors charred and torn apart.
Lebanon and Israel are expected to hold a new round of direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, brokered by the United States.
Hezbollah, which has been launching attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli troops who have entered and occupied a section of southern Lebanon, says it opposes the negotiations in the US.
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for the residents of Meiss el-Jabal, Yanouh, Burj Shemali, Hula, Debl and Aabbasiyyeh, warning that it will soon act against these six southern Lebanese villages “forcefully”.
Anyone who remains “endangers their life,” the military said, warning residents to move at least 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) away to “open areas”.
After this new round of forced displacement orders – which have been happening almost daily in the past week – Al Jazeera’s Khodr said one of the few remaining hospitals in the area was in the displacement zone.
Credit: aljazeera.com
