Israeli airstrikes overnight killed 11 people in the south Lebanon village of Kfar Rumman, including two infants, Lebanese state media reported Monday, a day after separate raids in the area left seven others dead. The strike destroyed a three-storey residential building, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA), which said nine people died in that attack alone, while two rescuers were also killed when their car was targeted in the area. An AFP photographer at the scene saw the building completely flattened, with school books and remnants of furniture scattered across the rubble as rescue teams continued searching for additional victims on Monday morning.

The attack comes amid an intensification of Israeli strikes in the southern Nabatieh region, following Israel's announcement last Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not addressed. On Monday, Israel's foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of carrying out repeated drone attacks and attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon, describing these actions as violations of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, which includes provisions for the group's disarmament.

The broader conflict in Lebanon erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in a show of support for Iran, triggering months of cross-border fighting. Hostilities had eased significantly following a memorandum of understanding reached between Washington and Tehran in June concerning the wider Middle East war, along with a separate Israel-Lebanon framework agreement established later that same month. Monday's deadly strikes suggest that the fragile calm established by those agreements may be unraveling, with both sides now trading accusations of ceasefire violations.

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Residents of Kfar Rumman had only recently returned to their homes following the June truce, after having been displaced earlier in the conflict. Fouad Chakaron, a villager who spoke to AFP, said residents have lived in constant fear since coming back, and insisted that the building targeted in the strike was occupied by peaceful people with no ties to any armed group. The strike also damaged neighboring buildings, prompting nearby residents to flee the area, according to AFP's photographer on the ground.

The rising death toll and renewed intensity of strikes in Nabatieh underscore the fragility of the ceasefire framework that has governed the Israel-Hezbollah conflict since June. With Israel accusing Hezbollah of rearming and launching drone attacks, and Hezbollah remaining silent on Israel's territorial claims along the Ali al-Taher ridge, the situation in southern Lebanon appears increasingly volatile. Rescue operations in Kfar Rumman were ongoing as of Monday, with authorities yet to confirm whether additional victims remain buried in the debris of the destroyed building.

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