Israeli strikes kill nine in southern Lebanon in deadliest toll since June agreements

Nine people, including three children, were killed and 11 were injured in two Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on August 15, 2026, according to reports from the area.

One strike hit a home near Ansar early on Saturday, killing seven people and flattening the building. A later strike on a home in Deir al-Zahrani killed two and injured nine. Rescue teams searched rubble for survivors, while traffic built on roads leading north as residents left nearby communities.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Ansar and Nabatieh area in response to attacks on its soldiers near the Ali Taher ridge. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam rejected the characterization of those killed as military targets and called for an end to the escalation.

The attacks produced the highest reported death toll in Lebanon since agreements reached in June substantially reduced fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The two villages struck were outside Israel’s self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon.

Fighting had intensified in March after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. A subsequent Israeli campaign and ground operation killed more than 4,300 people, according to the source account, before hostilities eased under a US-Iran memorandum and a later US-sponsored Lebanon-Israel framework.

The circumstances and military status of all those killed could not be independently established from the available source items. Both the casualty figures and the parties’ competing accounts are attributed.