Israeli raid kills municipal worker in south Lebanon: state media

United Nations peacekeepers drive in vehicles of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) past destroyed buildings while patroling in Lebanon's southern village of Kfar Kila close to the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. [AFP]

Israeli troops killed a Lebanese municipal worker on Thursday during a raid on a border village in the south, state media reported.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular air strikes, which have recently intensified.

"In a grave and unprecedented attack, an Israeli enemy force penetrated the village of Blida at nearly 1:30 am (1130 GMT), more than one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the border, supported by a number of vehicles," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

US Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus (L) meets with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to discuss the ongoing violence with Israel and possible political negotiations, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut. [AFP]

"The force stormed the Blida municipality building, where employee Ibrahim Salameh was sleeping, and enemy soldiers proceeded to kill him," it said.

Village residents cited by NNA said the raid lasted several hours, and that Israeli forces withdrew at dawn.

In the nearby border village of Adaisseh, NNA reported that Israeli forces blew up a hall for religious ceremonies at dawn.

Over the past days, Israel has stepped up its strikes on Lebanon, often saying it is targeting Hezbollah positions.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for the UN rights commission, Jeremy Laurence, said Israeli forces had killed 111 civilians in Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect.

Hezbollah was badly weakened during more than a year of conflict with Israel, and the United States has intensified pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm the Iran-backed group.

On Wednesday, during a meeting of the ceasefire's monitors in the Lebanese border city of Naqoura, US envoy Morgan Ortagus said Washington welcomed the "decision to bring all weapons under state control by the end of the year".

The Lebanese army "must now fully implement its plan", she added.