Israeli strikes kill 9 in southern Lebanon, state media says

Nine people were killed and three others injured Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes targeting multiple areas in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

Civil Defense teams and the Islamic Risala Scout Association recovered four bodies and rescued three wounded from the rubble after an airstrike hit the Al-Khodra complex in the Qadmous area, the agency said.

In the town of Ansariyeh, five people were killed in a dawn strike, the agency reported.

Another Israeli attack struck a vehicle in the Saadiyat area in Mount Lebanon, it added.

The US, Israel and Lebanon agreed to begin direct negotiations after a trilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, according to a statement released following the session.

The talks, the first direct diplomatic engagement between the two countries in more than 30 years, came as Israel continues an air and ground offensive in southern Lebanon, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing a million others. Israel began striking Hezbollah after the group retaliated to US-Israeli attacks on Iran in early March.