TEHRAN, June 13 (Agencies): Five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon as Israeli attacks continued despite a US-brokered ceasefire and ongoing diplomatic efforts to end regional hostilities.
Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that the victim was killed in an air raid targeting the municipality of Maarakeh in the Tyre district.
Israeli warplanes also carried out strikes on several towns and villages in southern Lebanon, including areas located north of the so-called "Yellow Line," a zone Israel has sought to control in recent months.
The renewed attacks came amid reports that the United States and Iran have reached preliminary agreement on the wording of a deal aimed at ending the ongoing conflict. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that mediators were working with both sides to finalize the agreement. According to Iranian media reports, the proposed deal would include an end to hostilities "on all fronts, including Lebanon."
Lebanon reported Israeli strikes on the country's south on Saturday as the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for more than 20 locations including the city of Nabatieh ahead of raids there.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli airstrikes hit several areas covered by the warning, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, located not far from Nabatieh, and other areas not mentioned in the evacuation notice. It said an Israeli strike killed a local official in Rihan, located in the southern region of Jezzine.
An AFP correspondent in Nabatieh said the city was almost deserted, and also reported artillery shelling there and in nearby areas overnight and on Saturday.
A day earlier, the NNA reported explosions and artillery shelling near the Ali Taher hills overlooking the city.
The Israeli army warned residents in 24 locations, both in and around Nabatieh and nearer to the coast, to "evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Zahrani River", around 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the southern border with Israel.
Last month it declared all areas south of the river "combat zones", and has been heavily striking the area.
Israel's military also said its air force on Saturday "intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory".
Hezbollah, which has kept up attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded south Lebanon, said its fighters launched drone attacks on Israeli military vehicles in the south.
Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since early March when the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for nearly 37 years before being killed by Israeli and US airstrikes on February 28, will be buried on July 9, state television reported Saturday.
The burial in his hometown, the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, initially scheduled for March but postponed due to the war, will follow three days of funeral ceremonies in capital Tehran beginning July 4 and another in the holy city of Qom on July 7, it said.
July 4, the start date of the national funeral, will coincide with the United States' Independence Day, which this year celebrates its 250th anniversary.
Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, succeeded him as supreme leader in early March, the third since the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979.
US forces shot down multiple Iranian one-way attack drones heading toward the Strait of Hormuz, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, in the latest military flare-up even as Washington and Tehran cite progress in peace talks.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the drones had posed a threat to commercial traffic.
President Donald Trump had warned Iran earlier on Friday against firing more drones at ships attempting to transit the Strait, saying Tehran "better get their act together, and FAST!"
