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Two Men Killed During Olive Harvest in Southern Lebanon

By AFP

Two men were killed in Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district while harvesting olives, according to Lebanese state media and local authorities. One man died on Sunday in the village of Froun when a munition left from recent fighting detonated. The other was killed in Yater after Israeli shelling that targeted the town’s outskirts while he inspected his land and olive crop, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. The Lebanese army blamed Israeli tank fire and called the attacks a flagrant breach of existing agreements. Yater’s municipality urged residents to avoid the town’s outskirts and stay away from the earthen barrier that separates some unsafe neighbourhoods due to fear of Israeli attacks. In Froun, the NNA said a foreign object from earlier Israeli operations exploded, killing an engineer who had come from Beirut for the harvest. The Froun mayor, Hassan Bazzi, told AFP that the incident caused locals to suspend the harvest and wait for the Lebanese army to finish decontaminating the village. Since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon was reached in June, violence in the south has lessened but not stopped. Lebanon entered the conflict on March 2 when Hezbollah struck Israel in support of Tehran during the US‑Israel war on Iran. Israel subsequently launched a bombing campaign and a ground invasion that authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people. In August, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of intentionally targeting homes and civilian infrastructure across the country. The International Organization for Migration recorded nearly 350,000 internally displaced people in late August, indicating a worsening displacement crisis. Volunteers from the nearby town of Jebchit and local residents helped their southern neighbours with the harvest in an act of solidarity. Organiser Ahmad Chahhal said, “From north to south, one people and one land.”