Lebanon state media says Israeli strike kills one in south

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese official media said on Thursday an overnight Israeli strike killed one person in the country's south, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

"One person was killed and another wounded in the Israeli drone targeting... of a car in the town Maaroub," the state-run National News Agency reported.

Maaroub lies about 20 kilometres from the border in Lebanon's southern Tyre district.

Separately, the agency reported "enemy artillery" hit another area in the south on Thursday morning.

A November 27 ceasefire brought relative calm after more than a year of hostilities including two months of open war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hizbollahmilitant group.

Israel has continued to carry out raids in Lebanon since the ceasefire, striking what it says are Hizbollahmilitary targets that violated the agreement.

Last weekend saw the most intense escalation since the truce, with Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killing eight people.

Israel said those raids were in response to rocket fire, the first to hit its territory since the ceasefire.

No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said originated north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire deal.

Hizbollah, heavily weakened by the war, denied involvement.

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel was to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but still holds five positions in south Lebanon that it deems "strategic".

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday: "We will not accept the continued [Israeli] occupation".

"There is no room for normalisation or surrender in Lebanon," he said in a televised address.