The China Mail - Lebanon reports 11 dead in strikes that Israel says targeted Hezbollah

Israel's military said the strikes in the early morning were in retaliation for an attack by the Iran-backed militant group on its troops in south Lebanon.

They came as Israel and Lebanon were set to hold an eighth round of US-sponsored direct negotiations early next month in Rome.

The sides agreed a framework deal at talks in Washington in June, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Saturday's "violations are a clear message on the negotiations process and American efforts aiming to implement this agreement".

Hezbollah said the Israeli attacks "will be met with an appropriate response", urging Lebanese authorities to abandon "the humiliating path of direct negotiations".

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that Israel "escalated its attacks on the south" early Saturday, reporting an airstrike on a home in the village of Ansar and a "series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge", a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area.

It later reported another strike on the southern town of Deir Zahrani.

Lebanon's health ministry said seven people were killed "including three children and two women," in Ansar, where Aoun said "an entire family" had been killed.

The ministry said four other people were killed and 17 others wounded including a child and 11 women in Deir Zahrani, raising an earlier toll of two dead.

- 'Extremely dangerous' -

In Ansar, an AFP correspondent saw a destroyed building as rescuers combed the rubble, and a swimming pool clouded and grey from dust and debris.

Abbas Khalil, 60, said he was praying when the strike hit.

"We were shocked... There's no justification for this," he told AFP.

The Israeli army said it struck "Hezbollah terror infrastructure in the areas of Nabatieh and Ansar" in response to "action" by Hezbollah against Israeli soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area.

It later added that Hezbollah had "attacked our forces inside the agreed security zone", a strip of territory around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon where Israeli forces are operating, decrying "a serious violation of the agreement".

In Deir Zahrani, an AFP correspondent saw huge damage and heavy traffic towards the city of Sidon as some people headed north in cars packed with belongings.

The NNA said one strike near Ansar was "the first at this geographical depth since the ceasefire two months ago".

Ansar and Deir Zahrani are both around 20 kilometres from the border.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that those killed in Ansar "are not 'military infrastructure' and the women and children who were killed are not military targets", urging Israel to halt the "extremely dangerous" escalation.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said the attacks were a call "to the sponsors of the negotiations and the ceasefire agreements to bear their responsibility... before it's too late".

- Negotiations -

Hezbollah said that the escalation, "targeting civilians and expanding the areas targeted", reflected a desire by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to escalate the war in order to strengthen his domestic political position".

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Violence has dropped since the US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader Middle East war in June, and the Israel-Lebanon framework deal later that month.

But Lebanon still reports intermittent Israeli strikes and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

In Ansar, standing next to the murky swimming pool, Mohammed Saab said he waited every year to rent his property out over the summer.

"What do I have here for this to happen?" he said in shock.

The Israel-Lebanon framework deal includes the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".

On Friday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of subjecting the country's armed forces to undue pressure by implementing the deal.

Also this week, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon, vowing to keep troops in the "security zone".

But a US State Department official said "a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework".

H.Au--ThChM