Israel warns it will step up attacks on southern Lebanon, a day after four killed

Israel has warned that its military will step up attacks in southern Lebanon, a day after four people were killed in an Israeli air strike.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily attacks.

"Hezbollah is playing with fire, and the president of Lebanon is dragging his feet," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

"The Lebanese government's commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be implemented. Maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify - we will not allow any threat to the residents of the north."

On Thursday, Israeli ground troops carried out a deadly raid into southern Lebanon, prompting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to order the army to confront such incursions.

Aoun had called for talks with Israel in mid-October, after US President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

But Aoun later accused Israel of responding to his offer by intensifying its air strikes, the latest of which killed four people in Nabatiyeh district on Saturday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The official Lebanese National News Agency reported that the Israeli army hit a car "with a guided missile".