Lebanon says Israeli army set off large explosion in south

The Israeli military set off a significant explosion in the southern Lebanese village of Mansouri on Monday, Lebanese state media and AFP correspondents said.

"A massive explosion rocked the town of Mansouri in the Tyre district a short while ago. The explosion was carried out by Israeli occupation forces," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

"The sound of the explosions was heard in the city of Tyre and several surrounding villages," the NNA added.

AFP correspondents saw large clouds of smoke emerge from the largely destroyed town after the loud explosion was heard.

The town of Mansouri, located around nine kilometres (six miles) south of Tyre and 10 kilometres north of Israel, and its surroundings were subjected to several Israeli strikes and to artillery shelling in recent weeks despite a ceasefire that took hold in June.

During the truce, Mansouri's municipality had told residents they could return home but that they should avoid the parts that came under Israel's self-proclaimed "security zone".

But last month, the Israeli military had ordered Mansouri's residents to evacuate the town before fully occupying it.

It has since regularly carried out demolitions and detonations in the town, which residents in the Tyre region can clearly see, according to correspondents.

Tehran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March this year by attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

Violence has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after a US-Iran understanding on the broader war, while Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement later that month.

But Israel has kept up attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometres (six miles) inside south Lebanon, where it has carried out widespread demolitions in villages it occupies.