New Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon kill 5, injure 19

Three civilians were martyred and four members of the Lebanese army were wounded in an Israeli warplane airstrike on a building on the Riyaq-Baalbek highway. A Lebanese security source told Petra's correspondent in Beirut that the four soldiers were injured when they were passing their military vehicle on the international road near the site of the strike. "Two martyrs and 15 wounded in a new toll of the Israeli airstrike on the Al-Yamouneh area in the northern Bekaa," he added, noting that airstrikes were recorded on a number of southern towns. "Civilians must be protected at all times," UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement, against the backdrop of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, killing six people, including the mayor. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasized that "the government is ready to reinforce the army in the south as soon as a ceasefire is reached," revealing that "we currently have 4,500 soldiers in south Lebanon, and we are supposed to increase the number between 7,000 and 11,000." In an interview with AFP, Mikati announced that "there are serious international efforts to reach a ceasefire," explaining that "the current international endeavor is centered on issuing a ceasefire resolution and implementing Resolution 1701." Source: Jordan News Agency