Lebanon official media says Israeli fire wounds two amid ceasefire
Lebanese official media said Israeli fire wounded two people in a border village on Thursday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect.
A Lebanese military source said the armed forces were extending their deployment in the country's south, without approaching Israeli-controlled areas, following the ceasefire that ended two months of all-out war and more than a year of hostilities.
Lebanon's official National News Agency said two people were wounded in the village of Markaba "due to the enemy targeting" of a square in the village.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on X early Thursday repeated a warning to Lebanese residents not to return to areas adjacent to the border, listing a series of villages and towns along the frontier.
The Israeli and Lebanese militaries have both called on residents of frontline villages to avoid returning home immediately, though people have been going back to the south in large numbers.
A Lebanese military source, requesting anonymity to discuss security matters, said that "the army continues to gradually deploy in the south Litani region on Thursday, conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints, without advancing into points where the Israeli (military) is still present".
The NNA reported Israeli artillery shelling on a number of border villages, saying the Israeli army targeted "the Taybeh square and the town of Khiam and the Marjayoun plain with artillery shells".
It also reported the sound of automatic weapons in Khiam and said an Israeli "Merkava tank shot a shell at the village of Wazzani".
The Israeli army said in a statement that "over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire".
The army "opened fire toward them", the statement said, adding that the Israeli military "remains in southern Lebanon and will actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement".
Under the US and French brokered ceasefire, the Israeli army has 60 days to gradually withdraw from south Lebanon.
The Israeli army has not yet announced any pull-out from the region, which Hezbollah also has to evacuate.
On Wednesday, Lebanon's army said it had "begun reinforcing its presence in the South Litani sector".
In the border village of Qlayaa, residents threw rice and flowers to celebrate the arrival of Lebanese soldiers.
Also Wednesday, two journalists were injured by Israeli fire, the NNA said, while reporting from a border town.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Wednesday that "we control positions in the south of Lebanon, our planes continue to fly in Lebanese airspace", adding that Israel "arrested suspects and killed terrorists".
