School Headteacher Among Four Killed in Deadliest Israeli Drone Strike on Lebanon

An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon has killed four people, including a school headteacher, in the deadliest Israeli attack since a ceasefire was agreed in the country last month, BBC reported.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the victims were the headteacher, her mother, a female foreign domestic worker and a male Syrian worker. The four were returning from a visit to their family home in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa when a drone fired a guided missile at their vehicle, killing all of them instantly.

The Israeli military said the car had approached a security zone and been identified as a threat to its soldiers, adding that the air force had carried out a precise strike to remove the threat.

Lebanon was drawn into the broader regional conflict on March 2, when Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iran's supreme leader on the opening day of the US-Israeli war against Iran. Israel responded with an air campaign across Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south. A US-brokered ceasefire on 16 April failed to hold, though Israel and Lebanon agreed in June to renew the truce. Under that arrangement, the US said it would support the creation of pilot zones in southern Lebanon where the Lebanese Armed Forces would exercise exclusive control, effectively excluding Hezbollah.

Despite the renewed agreement, Israel has continued to carry out sporadic strikes, accusing Hezbollah of violating the terms of the deal. Parts of southern Lebanon remain under Israeli military occupation with no timeline set for a withdrawal.

Since the current round of hostilities began, Israeli strikes have killed at least 4,319 people and wounded more than 12,203 others, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Over 1.2 million people have been displaced. Israel says it has lost 36 soldiers and four civilians on both sides of the border.