‘Israel violated Lebanon truce nearly 3,500 times’

• Woman, child among 12 killed in attacks on Zifta, Tyre
• Beirut counts 3,491 Israeli strikes since April 17; fresh bombardment damages Unesco heritage site
• Hezbollah denies contact with Trump

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed 12 people on Monday as Lebanese Defence Minister Michel Men­assa revealed Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 air strikes since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in April.

The Lebanese health ministry said the dawn raid on the town of Zifta in the Nabatieh district resulted in seven deaths, including a Syrian child and a woman, and wounded eight others.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on Tyre in southern Lebanon on Monday killed five people and wounded eight, the health ministry said, as Israel said it would continue strikes despite Iranian threats.

“An Israeli enemy raid on the city of Tyre, near the Red Cross centre, resulted in five martyrs and eight wounded, four of whom were Red Cross paramedics,” the ministry said in a statement.

The continuing violence underscores the fragility of the ceasefire that came into effect on April 17.

Nearly 3,500 Israeli attacks

During a cabinet meeting on Monday, Menassa said that between April 17 and June 7, Israel conducted 3,491 air strikes, 407 controlled demolitions and six razing operations, flattening entire villages in southernmost Lebanon.

PM Nawaf Salam said the escalation has caused additional waves of displacement. More than 1 million people have been displaced and over 3,600 killed since Hez­bollah drew Lebanon into the conflict on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

The heavy bombardment in Tyre also damaged a Unesco World Heritage site. Ali Badawi, the culture ministry’s regional director of archaeological sites for south Lebanon, said Sunday’s bombardment had “the worst impact” on Tyre’s ancient areas since the war began. “The amount of debris and damage at the site is high,” Badawi said. “Some archaeological artefacts were damaged when rubble fell on them, as debris fell over a large area, impacting a large number of elements at the site — columns, capitals, column bases, mosaics.”

Tyre’s ruins include Roman baths, a second-century triumphal arch and a hippodrome. Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame appealed to protect the sites, charging that Israel “does not respect” the Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property.

‘No contact with Trump’

Amid the ongoing conflict, a senior Hezbollah official denied statements from US President Donald Trump suggesting the two sides had communicated.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati said in written remarks that “there has been no direct contact between President Trump and Hezbollah officials”.

Trump told reporters last Wednesday that “we actually spoke with Hezbollah for the first time, ever,” and later claimed he had a “very good call” with the group through highly placed representatives.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026