Israeli army sets off large explosions in Mansouri, Zawtar and Aitaroun
The Israeli military set off on Monday significant explosions in the southern Lebanese villages of Mansouri, Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh and Aitaroun, while Israeli artillery shelled Baraashit and Mayfadoun.
"A massive explosion rocked the town of Mansouri in the Tyre district a short while ago. The explosion was carried out by Israeli occupation forces," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported Monday.
"The sound of the explosions was heard in the city of Tyre and several surrounding villages," the NNA added.
AFP correspondents saw large clouds of smoke emerge from the largely destroyed town after the loud explosion was heard.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had completed an operation in Mansouri where it dismantled "more than 600 terrorist infrastructure sites" and "eight underground routes".
Lebanese authorities accuse Israel of systematically destroying villages in the south, including homes, schools, places of worship and water and electricity infrastructure.
The town of Mansouri, located around nine kilometers south of Tyre and 10 kilometers north of Israel, and its surroundings were subjected to several Israeli strikes and to artillery shelling in recent weeks despite a ceasefire that took hold in June.
During the truce, Mansouri's municipality had told residents they could return home but that they should avoid the parts that came under Israel's self-proclaimed "security zone".
But last month, the Israeli military had ordered Mansouri's residents to evacuate the town before fully occupying it.
It has since regularly carried out demolitions and detonations in the town, which residents in the Tyre region can clearly see, according to correspondents.
Violence has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after a U.S.-Iran understanding on the broader war, while Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement later that month.
But Israel has kept up attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers inside south Lebanon, where it has carried out widespread demolitions in villages it occupies.
Source: Agence France Presse
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