Deutsche Tageszeitung - South Lebanon town buries its dead after Israeli strike

The two brothers' coffins, draped in the Iran-backed group's yellow flag, portraits of them in camouflage fatigues fixed to the front, led the procession through the village battered by repeated conflict over nearly three years.

Another 10 coffins were covered in Lebanese flags, indicating that the rest of the Farhat family killed when Monday's strike levelled their home were civilians.

Israel has launched airstrikes and a ground invasion in south Lebanon during the Middle East war, which erupted with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran and spread to Lebanon after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of its backer.

The fighting in Lebanon had calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon were both agreed in June.

But Beirut still reports recurring Israeli strikes, which it says have killed more than 4,300 people in total since March, and Israeli forces continue to occupy what it calls a "security zone" in the south.

A separate strike on Kfar Rumman on Monday killed an 18-year-old rescuer with the Risala Association, linked to the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, the organisation said, who was mourned alongside the Farhat family on Tuesday.

"We have 13 killed including grandfather and grandmother, husbands and wives, and their children including a three-months old infant," deputy mayor Nureddine Nureddine told AFP from the funeral.

"Someone put an end to these crimes," Nureddine said, adding that the strike that killed the Farhat family "occurred at night, while they were sleeping".

"There was no military activity, nothing."

An AFP correspondent saw people marching to the cemetery, waving Hezbollah flags as women dressed in black wept, holding pictures of the dead as an Israeli drone flew overhead.

"Death to America, death to Israel," mourners yelled.

- 'A shred of honour' -

The Israeli military said on Monday that it had struck Hezbollah "infrastructure sites" across southern Lebanon after the launch of two explosive drones towards its troops, as well as "several terrorists" it said were transferring weapons.

"The claim that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strikes is being reviewed," it said, adding that the military "will continue to operate to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement".

Since Friday, at least 28 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Standing next to a picture of his own son, a Hezbollah member killed by Israel, Ghaleb Baalbaki slammed the Lebanese government for continuing direct talks with Israel.

"If they have even a shred of honour, the first thing they should do would be to stop the negotiations," he said.

The lull in violence that began in June had allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return home.

"Kfar Rumman was coming back to life, there were more than 1,400 people" in the town before the latest escalation, Nureddine said,

"Now, they can be counted on your fingers."

(Y.Leyard--DTZ)