Israel Strikes South Lebanon Again, Hits Ambulance Crew
At least three Israeli strikes hit Nabatieh al-Fauqa in south Lebanon on Saturday, one targeting an ambulance crew, despite a June agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israeli jets carried out at least three airstrikes on Saturday, September 19, on the town of Nabatieh al-Fauqa in south Lebanon, one of them aimed at an ambulance crew that had set out toward the site of earlier strikes. The strikes came despite a framework agreement, brokered by the United States and signed in late June, on the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that two of the strikes hit the area known as the Old Square, while the third targeted a Civil Defense ambulance dispatched to the site of the previous attacks. According to the agency, the crew reached shelter in time and no one was killed or wounded, even though the vehicle had been heading straight toward a location already under fire.
The Israeli military said it had targeted observation posts that, it claims, Hezbollah uses to prepare attacks on Israeli soldiers stationed in that part of Lebanon. It cited as grounds for the strikes the wounding of two Israeli soldiers whose vehicle had hit a Hezbollah explosive device in an area of south Lebanon still under Israeli control.
Three fronts in one day
Saturday’s strikes were not confined to a single town. Besides Nabatieh al-Fauqa, Israeli jets also struck Mansouri in Tyre district and Mays al-Jabal in Marjeyoun district. In Mansouri, heavy machinery was filmed demolishing a house, footage captured from the nearby town of Hinniyeh.
According to available reports, Nabatieh al-Fauqa has come under bombardment almost daily since the fall of the Ali Taher ridge, a position whose loss opened the way to more frequent Israeli strikes on that part of south Lebanon. The town is thus not an isolated case but part of a wider strip along the border that the Israeli military keeps under constant fire.
Toll since early March
Since the start of March, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed around 4,400 people and wounded more than 12,300, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 1 million residents have been displaced. During the fighting, Israeli forces have advanced more than 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory, including areas they have held for decades and others seized during the 2023 and 2024 fighting.
That depth of advance is one of the reasons the framework agreement of June 26 is being implemented so slowly. The document calls for a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, alongside a parallel deployment of the Lebanese army to the positions vacated. Saturday’s strikes, including the one on the ambulance crew, show that operations on the ground are continuing nearly three months after the signing, with no indication of when the withdrawal might actually speed up.
Why the June agreement isn’t stopping the strikes
The June agreement speaks of a gradual process, not an immediate ceasefire, and that gradualness is exactly what leaves room for strikes like Saturday’s to keep happening while the withdrawal is worked out step by step. Israel ties each strike to a specific security incident, such as the wounding of two soldiers by an explosive device, while Lebanon logs every such strike as evidence that the occupation of parts of the south is continuing even after the signing.
For Beirut, each new strike is another argument that the agreement is not being implemented as announced, while Tel Aviv continues to justify its actions by the need to protect soldiers stationed along the border. Nabatieh al-Fauqa, Mansouri and Mays al-Jabal remain, for now, three points on the same front line that has not moved since the deal was signed, and Civil Defense crews in these towns count on strikes arriving without warning, every day.
