Hezbollah says Israeli shooting in south Lebanon violates ceasefire

Hezbollah says Israeli shooting in south Lebanon violates ceasefire The Israeli army said on Tuesday that its soldiers struck a terrorist cell in southern Lebanon. DUBAI: Hezbollah said Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in southern Lebanon on Tuesday (Jun 23) and that the incident was a violation of a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. The Iran-backed militant group condemned the shooting, which it said had killed two people and injured others, but did not say whether it would take retaliatory action. The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it identified a "cell of armed terrorists" close to its soldiers in southern Lebanon. "The soldiers struck the terrorists ... in order to remove the threat," said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). "The IDF will continue to operate to remove immediate threats and will not allow the Hezbollah terrorist organisation to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers," it said. A truce between the two sides had been ongoing since last Friday, though the Israeli army said it would remain in a "buffer zone" in Lebanon as long as its citizens were under Hezbollah threat. The conflict had cast a shadow over a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which are seeking a permanent end to a war that began in late February. Iran had repeatedly said a halt to the war in Lebanon was an integral part of the agreement to end hostilities on all fronts.