Israel strikes southern Lebanon after US-Iran ceasefire

Israel strikes southern Lebanon after US-Iran ceasefire10 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHugo BachegaMiddle East correspondent, LebanonReutersAn explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood of Tyre in southern LebanonThe Israeli military has carried out a wave of air strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, an indication that, for Israel, the US-Iran ceasefire deal does not apply to Lebanon - where it is fighting the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah. Air strikes hit the Tyre and Nabatieh areas in the south of the country, among others, hours after the agreement was announced.The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has denied the assertion by Pakistan, which helped mediate, that the deal also covers the devastating conflict happening here.Across Lebanon, more than 1,500 people have been killed, including 130 children.More than 1.2 million people have been displaced - one in five of the population - most of them from Shia Muslim communities in the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut, areas where Hezbollah holds sway.Villages near the border have been destroyed, as invading Israeli troops aim to create what the Israeli authorities call a security buffer zone, to destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure and push its fighters away. This has raised concerns that some areas may be occupied even after the end of the war, and that many residents may never be able to return.There has been no immediate reaction from either the Lebanese government or Hezbollah after the announcement of a ceasefire in the war between the US and Israel against Iran, which had started in late February.In Lebanon, the latest escalation in the decades-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted when the group fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the opening stages of the war, and in response to near-daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire in...