Still waiting on peace agreement between US and Iran, Israeli attacks Lebanon

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Israeli air force and artillery strikes were reported on Saturday near the strategic mountain site of a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon as fighting raged in villages close to the city of Nabatiyeh. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported airstrikes and artillery shelling near the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. The strategic castle was held by Israeli troops for 18 years until they withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000. Separately, an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip killed a nurse, the latest death since last year’s shaky ceasefire. Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings for more than a dozen villages in southern Lebanon, a day after Lebanese and Israeli military officials held their first direct talks in decades at the Pentagon.