Israel carries out air strike in Lebanon

JERUSALEM: Israel said it had carried out an air strike on Monday in support of a ground operation near the southeastern Lebanese border village of Taibe, despite a promised break in the raids.      

"Our aircraft are operating in the area to support ground troops," an army spokesman said.          

The action came despite an Israeli pledge announced overnight to halt air raids for 48 hours.        

The spokesman said the air strikes hit "only uninhabited zones in order to prevent attacks against ground troops."             

He denied the air strike violated the agreement to halt such raids for 48 hours.      

"The Taibe air raid does not contradict that announcement as we never said we would suspend all strikes completely. We said that we could continue to protect our civilians and our soldiers," he said.