Lebanon’s president has accused Israel of escalating attacks in the south in a move he says threatens the US-backed ceasefire framework.

An excavator digs as rescuers search for survivors amidst the rubble following an overnight Israeli airstrike on the village of Kfar Reman in southern Lebanon on September 7, 2026 [AFP]

Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 12 people, including children and medics.

Israeli warplanes hit a residential building early on Monday in the town of Kfar Reman in southern Lebanon, killing 11 people – including two children – and wounding five others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

A separate Israeli drone attack on a civilian vehicle in the town in Nabatieh province killed at least one medic, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Israel has stepped up its attacks on southern Lebanon over the past three days, killing at least 27 people and injuring 69, according to the ministry. Lebanon’s president has asserted that the rise in hostilities is part of an Israeli bid to undermine the United States-brokered framework agreement to end the conflict.

The Israeli military also struck a residential area in the town of Deir al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon overnight after it issued a forced evacuation order. The army says it targeted a building near a Hezbollah facility, which it claims was used to launch an explosive drone.

The attacks come a day after at least seven people were killed and 20 others were wounded in Israeli air raids on the nearby town of Arab Salim, also in the Nabatieh district.

A rescuer searches for survivors amidst the rubble following an overnight Israeli airstrike on the village of Kfar Reman in southern Lebanon on September 7, 2026 (AFP)

Attacks have continued despite the framework agreement, which was signed by Israel and Lebanon in June.

draw. However, Israel still occupies dozens of villages in southern Lebanon and has refused further withdrawals, leading to a “stalled” diplomatic process.

Reporting from Kfar Reman, Khodr said “uncertainty and fear” are now the prevailing feelings in southern Lebanon, as people had started returning to the region and rebuilding their homes with the hope that attacks would stop after the Lebanon-Israel deal was signed in June.

“The feeling here is that Israel is trying to impose or establish new rules of engagement,” Khodr said. “People just do not know what is next. There’s been a wave of Israeli attacks over the past 48 hours. Civilians are being killed. Residential homes are being destroyed.”

“Recovery efforts by civil defence workers are continuing. They’ve been here throughout the night, but it’s no longer a rescue operation,” Khodr added. “It’s a recovery operation.”

Israeli strikes ⁠on Lebanon have killed more than 4,350 people and wounded over 12,300 since the conflict escalated in early March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The ministry said in a report on Wednesday that there had been 179 Israeli attacks on Lebanese ambulance crews since March 2, killing 135 healthcare workers.

Though the US-brokered deal between Lebanon and Israel ‌saw violence decrease, Israeli forces have continued razing villages in its so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon, carrying out air strikes both within the zone and to its north, mostly without forced evacuation orders.

Alongside the strikes, Israel has continued to carry out demolitions across southern Lebanon.

“Massive explosions” were reported in the town of al-Mansouri on Monday by the National News Agency, which said almost two-thirds of houses in town have been destroyed, while the remaining third are uninhabitable.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun insisted on Monday that the attacks and other destructive activities being carried out by Israel are intended to undermine the US-backed deal aimed at a ceasefire.

“These attacks target the framework agreement process and undermine all efforts to halt the escalation in southern Lebanon and the region as a whole,” Aoun told French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin as he visited Lebanon.

Israel’s military asserted later that it is committed to the agreement, but would continue to “remove threats” from Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed group has condemned the deal, insisting that Israel must withdraw completely from Lebanon before it will end hostilities.