Lebanese soldiers injured while Israeli troops intrude on southern town

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Hours earlier on Saturday, the village mayor and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli troops had entered and built an earth barrier overnight. Mayor Abed Ezzeddine told the AFP news agency that residents were surprised to see the barrier, around 100 metres from the village square. The village had been placed under the control of Lebanon’s army as part of a June agreement with Israel. A Lebanese military source called the move a violation of the framework accord, but the Israeli military told the AFP agency that it was “not aware of such an event in this area”. “An Israeli occupation army force advanced into the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah shortly after midnight … and erected a new earthen barrier near the town square,” NNA reported. An AFP correspondent confirmed seeing the barrier blocking a road at the eastern entrance. The Lebanese army had deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiyah on July 21 and around 50 families have since returned to the village, Mayor Ezzeddine said. Israeli troops were on the outskirts of the village before the deployment. The village is one of two “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army is deploying under a US-sponsored framework agreement signed with Israel on June 26 . It envisions a phased Israeli withdrawal in return for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tyre in southern Lebanon, Ihab al-Aqadi, said Israel had escalated the pace of its attacks over the past few days, in parallel with negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv in Rome. He described Zawtar al-Gharbiyah as a pilot area that the Lebanese army was trying to clear of mines, with teams also removing rubble to pave the way for residents to return. Al-Aqadi said the nearby town of Mansouri was shelled by Israeli artillery on Saturday. It had effectively remained sealed off by gunfire, with residents unable to return after evacuation orders and intermittent shelling. A bulldozer clearing roads there had been damaged by a bomb explosion the day before, he added. He said the shelling and incursions extended across the frontier: Israeli bulldozing in occupied Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh towards the Ali al-Taher area of Nabatieh al-Fawqa; two drone strikes on open ground in Mayfadoun; and continued ground incursions in Kfar Shouba, in the Hasbaya district and Haddatha in Bint Jbeil district. Villages along the line of contact had become uninhabitable, among them Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Mansouri, al-Aqadi said. He added that Lebanon was holding firm on the ceasefire and pressing Israel to halt the destruction of border villages, while preparing for a new round of talks in September. Israel said a soldier was wounded in southern Lebanon on Saturday. The military, cited by Israel’s Channel 12, said the soldier sustained moderate injuries in an “operational incident” and was evacuated to hospital for treatment. Israel Army Radio reported that he was a combat engineer from the 607th Engineering Battalion who was hit by shrapnel from Israeli fire in the border village of Tayri. Lebanon and Israel concluded a seventh round of direct, US-mediated talks in Rome on Thursday. President Joseph Aoun said Beirut had made “positive progress” on border and prisoner issues. 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