By Abdul Adil
London, (The Muslim News): At least 19 civilians have been killed and 58 wounded in Israeli attacks across Lebanon, according to Lebanese health authorities, as Israel intensifies its assault in the south and issues mass displacement orders throughout the region.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike south of Beirut killed a woman and two children — Fatima Wehbe and her three-month-old daughter, Zahraa. The strike hit as a mother was reportedly holding her child, while the infant was later seen wrapped in pink blankets after Israel’s military claimed it had “precisely struck” the area without identifying the target. It marked the first strike on the Lebanese capital in three weeks.
Earlier in the day, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that six members of the same family were killed in an Israeli drone strike while attempting to flee at dawn along the Adloun Highway, a key road linking Sidon and Tyre.
The attack came as Israel expanded its bombardment across southern Lebanon, targeting residential areas, roads, and civilian infrastructure.
The Israeli army is reportedly seeking additional American systems and technologies to counter Hezbollah drones after several unmanned aircraft struck military sites in northern Israel on Wednesday, according to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN.
KAN reported that Hezbollah launched at least six drones toward northern Israel, with some exploding at military positions. Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan is expected to travel to the United States in the coming days to oversee purchases related to the growing drone threat.
Senior military officials quoted by KAN, speaking anonymously, said there were “no budget restrictions” on efforts to confront the attacks.
The broadcaster added that the military is making major efforts to improve warning systems against explosive drones targeting soldiers, including a newly developed detection system designed to provide alerts similar to anti-tank missile warning systems.
KAN also reported that Hezbollah continued launching explosive drones over the past 24 hours toward Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, as well as troops stationed inside Israel, with some drones striking military sites directly.
According to the broadcaster, the army still lacks an effective response to the attacks despite repeated Israeli claims of advances in detecting and intercepting Hezbollah drones.
KAN further reported that several members of a security team in a northern Israeli settlement were injured after a Hezbollah explosive drone struck while they were attempting to assist Israeli soldiers targeted minutes earlier in a similar attack.
The report said Hezbollah has increasingly adopted a tactic of targeting troops first and then launching additional drones toward rescue or evacuation teams arriving afterward.
Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah said it carried out several drone attacks targeting Israeli troop gatherings and military vehicles, including an Iron Dome platform at the Jal al-Allam military site in northern Israel.
Hezbollah drones have become a growing concern for Israel in recent months, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously describing them as a “major threat” because of the difficulty in detecting them.
Since March 2, Israel has conducted an expanded offensive in Lebanon that has killed more than 3,200 civilians, injured over 9,600, and displaced more than 1.6 million people, according to official figures.
The Israeli army has continued its daily attacks despite a US-mediated ceasefire that took effect on April 17 and was later extended into early July.
The Lebanese Army said Wednesday that two of its soldiers were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, in what it described as Israel’s latest ceasefire violations.
In a statement posted on X, the army said a military unit recovered the body of a soldier killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike near his position close to the Qaraoun Lake Dam in Lebanon’s western Bekaa region.
The army added that the region had been subjected to multiple Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday, killing the soldier along with several paramedics who were on a humanitarian mission to evacuate him.
Separately, another Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli strike on the Kfarman-Khardali road linking the town of Kfarman in Nabatieh governorate to the Khardali area in southern Lebanon, the army said.
The strikes came despite a US-mediated ceasefire agreement that took effect on April 17 and was later extended through early July.
US and Iran MOU
President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Oman on Wednesday, telling the Gulf nation to “behave” or face possible US military action.
“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
It remains unclear what prompted Trump’s remarks, and the White House did not respond to requests for clarification.
Oman has previously served as a key mediator between the United States and Iran. Recent reports suggest Muscat has been working with Tehran to establish a toll system for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz — a key Iranian demand amid negotiations aimed at ending the war that the US and Israel launched on Feb. 28.
An Omani exclave sits at the southern tip of the Strait of Hormuz, directly across the strategically vital waterway from Iran.
Trump insisted that the strait remains “international waters” and said “nobody’s going to control it,” while adding that the United States would continue to “watch over it.”
“That’s part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody’s going to control it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that a draft agreement between Tehran and Washington includes cooperation between Iran and Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Iran’s Mizan news agency, citing IRIB, Tehran would commit to restoring commercial shipping traffic through the strait to pre-crisis levels within one month. Military vessels, however, would not be covered by the agreement.
The draft reportedly states that the United States would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Washington has also “pledged to withdraw its military forces from Iran’s periphery,” the report said, though it remained unclear whether this referred to regional deployments or permanent military bases.
“If a final agreement is reached within a 60-day period, this agreement will be approved in the form of a binding UN Security Council resolution,” the report added.
IRIB stressed that no final agreement has yet been reached and that “no step will be taken by Iran without tangible verification.”
Seven Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza
At least seven Palestinians were killed and 18 injured in an Israeli airstrike Wednesday targeting an apartment in a residential building in Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
The organization said its crews recovered seven bodies, including two children and two women, after the strike hit a home near Al-Israa Tower on Omar al-Mukhtar Street.
The wounded were transferred to Al-Saraya Field Hospital near the site of the attack.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli warplanes carried out a heavy airstrike targeting an apartment in the Farah residential building on Omar al-Mukhtar Street, a densely populated area in central Gaza City.
The Israeli army claimed it had targeted two senior Hamas members in northern Gaza.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper alleged that the targets were Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade commander and the deputy commander of the Gaza City brigade, though their identities were not disclosed.
Hamas has not commented on the Israeli claims.
Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian families in occupied West Bank
Illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian families on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday in eastern Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian activist.
Fares Kaabneh told Anadolu Agency that settlers targeted families in the al-Khalaifa area of al-Taybeh village.
He said the settlers deliberately drove herds of sheep and camels near Palestinian homes, damaging property and destroying trees.
Kaabneh added that settlers surrounded Palestinian homes during the attack.
Israeli settlers carried out 540 attacks against Palestinians and their property across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in April alone, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the occupied West Bank has witnessed a sharp escalation in attacks by both the Israeli army and settlers, particularly in rural and Bedouin communities near settlements and outposts.
According to figures released Monday by the Palestinian government media office, Israeli forces have killed 1,200 Palestinians, injured more than 12,600, and displaced 33,000 people in the West Bank.
[Photo: Search and rescue, firefighting and medical teams deployed at the area after an Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the southern city of Sidon, Lebanon, on May 28, 2026. According to reports, two people were killed in the attack while several others remain trapped under the rubble. Photojournalist: Ahmad Kaddoura/AA]
