At least 1 killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — A series of Israeli airstrikes Thursday in southern Lebanon killed at one person and wounded eight others, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said it bombed infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah militant group that included weapons and tunnel shafts as part of an underground network. Israel accused Hezbollah of regrouping and maintaining its infrastructure in violation of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in November that ended its war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strikes near the southern city of Nabatieh, which came as calls mounted for the Lebanese state to disarm the powerful group. Hezbollah says it will not lay down its weapons as long as Israel controls part of south Lebanon and continues striking deep inside the country. Israel still has control of five hilltop points on Lebanese territory following its ground invasion last year.

“The government has not and will not spare any effort to expedite the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told reporters after meeting with officials in the northeastern city of Baalbek, which was battered by the war that killed 4,000 people.

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Hezbollah says its has largely disarmed south of the Litani River, while Israel says the militants are trying to regroup.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said public institutions in the area were closed after the attacks. Families rushed to schools to take their children home.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in November, Israeli strikes have continued. Israel has struck southern Beirut three times After two rocket attacks from southern Lebanon hit northern Israel, allegedly fired by the Palestinian Hamas group in March.

After their previous war in 2006, Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon below the Litani River and leave it under the sole control of the Lebanese military alongside U.N. peacekeepers. That would eventually extend to the rest of the country, with the aim disarm all non-state groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and end Israeli military presence.