Israeli air strikes on a village in southern Lebanon have killed at least nine people, the Lebanese health ministry says.
The overnight attacks targeted the village of Kfar Roummane, located just a few hundred metres from what the Israeli military calls its “security zone.”
The first strike destroyed a three-storey residential building shortly after midnight. According to the health ministry, eight people were killed in that single blast, including a child and two women. A second strike hit a vehicle nearby, killing a paramedic. Eleven others were injured in the attacks.
For the families living there, the fear is constant. Sara Moallaem, a 35-year-old resident, told the reporters she was asleep with her five children when the explosions shook their rental home. She immediately grabbed her children and moved them into a safe room, waiting for the sirens to stop.
Some of those killed were distant relatives of her husband. She insisted they were civilians with no ties to the armed group Hezbollah. Now, she is packing her bags to move her family to the coastal city of Sidon.
“During the day, it is almost normal, with people going back and forth. But as it comes near the night, things escalate,” she explained. “Now that they are targeting civilians, I don’t want to weep for my children.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” that threatens to unravel the US-brokered ceasefire meant to end the conflict. He has urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the attacks.
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The trilateral framework agreed by Lebanon, Israel, and the US calls for Hezbollah to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw gradually, and the Lebanese army to deploy across the area. But on the ground, that agreement feels very far away. The Israeli foreign ministry has accused Hezbollah of launching repeated drone attacks and attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon, though it has not yet commented directly on this specific incident.
According to the health ministry, at least 4,362 people have been killed in Lebanon during the ongoing conflict.
For the families packing their bags for the sixth or seventh time, the political agreements and military justifications offer no comfort. The focus is no longer on the future. It is simply on surviving the night.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
