Israeli escalation in south Lebanon leaves 27 dead in 3 days as talks stall

BEIRUT — Israel continued artillery shelling, ground incursions and demolitions in south Lebanon on Tuesday as the death toll from three days of intense attacks rose to at least 27 in one of the most violent escalations since the June ceasefire. What happened: Israeli forces shelled the al-Salouqi and al-Hujeir valleys in south Lebanon and opened fire with machine guns in the outskirts of the nearby town of Qabrikha, the state-run National News Agency reported. At least 15 blasts were reported in Mansouri on Monday and another series of explosions rocked the town early on Tuesday as Israeli forces pressed ahead with a demolition campaign in the areas Israel controls in the so-called Yellow Line. Israeli ground forces entered in the Sunni-majority border village of Kfarsuhba in the Hasbaya district earlier that day, raising the Israeli flag on a hill there.