Israel strikes southern Lebanon despite ceasefire, claims to target Hezbollah military sites
Israeli planes struck several towns in southern Lebanon on Thursday, marking an escalation of their almost daily strikes against the country.
The airstrikes came despite a November 2024 ceasefire and hours after Hezbollah urged the Lebanese government not to enter into negotiations with Israel.
Residents of Tayba, Tayr Debba and Aita al-Jabal were warned by Arab Israeli spokesperson Avichay Adraee to flee 500 meters from the residential buildings they are targeting, which they say have been used by Hezbollah. Warnings were then issued for the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Kfar Dounin.
Lebanese civil defense helped people evacuate the areas, the official Lebanese news agency said. While most residents evacuated threatened areas before the strikes, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported one person injured. Earlier Israeli strikes on Thursday killed one person, according to the ministry.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in these areas, including “weapons storage facilities…built in the center of civilian populated areas.” It accuses the militant group of rebuilding its capabilities nearly a year after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect.
Hezbollah has not fired on Israel since the truce agreement took effect last year.
More than 270 people have been killed and around 850 injured by Israeli military actions since the ceasefire took effect, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. As of October 9, the U.N. human rights office had verified that 107 of those killed were civilians or non-combatants, spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said.
“Israel will continue to defend all of its borders and we will also continue to insist on the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel,” Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Thursday.
Thursday’s strikes destroyed a steel factory in the southern Lebanese town of Abbasiyeh.
“This store supported five to six households, in total five to six households,” said Ahmad al-Kayyal, owner of the business.
“Brother, what does a blacksmith do? For heaven’s sake: chairs, tables, doors, windows, balustrades. What does he do? That’s the blacksmith’s work.”
Every time Lebanon expresses its openness to peaceful negotiations… Israel intensifies its aggression.– Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Fears are growing in Lebanon that Israel will resume a large-scale aerial bombardment campaign, particularly after Israeli leaders warned they would take action against Hezbollah if Lebanon does not step up efforts to disarm the group.
“We are in a very dangerous situation. If things continue like this (…) then all hope is lost,” said Farid Nahnouh, mayor of Tayr Debba.
Lebanon open to negotiations
The strikes come as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his government meet in Beirut to follow through on a plan by the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups in the country.
After the meeting, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the cabinet “welcomes the progress [the army] succeeded… despite persistent obstacles, first and foremost the continuation of Israeli hostilities.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticized Israeli strikes and the military presence on five points perched on Lebanese territory. Last week, Aoun ordered the army to confront any Israeli incursions into southern Lebanon after Israeli forces crossed the border overnight and killed a municipal worker.
“Every time Lebanon expresses its openness to peaceful negotiations…Israel intensifies its aggression,” Aoun said in a statement after Thursday’s strikes.
“Nearly a year has passed since the ceasefire took effect, and during that time, Israel has spared no effort to demonstrate its rejection of any negotiated settlement between the two countries,” he said.
Aoun said he was open to negotiations with Israel to end tensions, something Hezbollah opposes.
The activist group, which also has a political wing, said before the strikes that it had a “legitimate right to resist.” [Israeli] occupation”, adding that it would support the Lebanese army.
Hezbollah also said that although Lebanon was bound by a ceasefire, it was not obliged to become involved in political negotiations with Israel.
The powerful group’s military capabilities were severely damaged during Israel’s intense air campaign over Lebanon in 2024, but Hezbollah has yet to disarm and its leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group would be ready to fight no matter how difficult it wastheir abilities might be.
The army has said it could rid all of southern Lebanon of weapons outside state control by the end of the year. Two senior Lebanese security officials told Reuters hours before Thursday’s heavy strikes that their troops were making faster progress on disarmament every month.
Also on Thursday, the US Treasury announced a new round of sanctions that it said target “financial agents who oversee the movement of funds from Iran” to Hezbollah.
This includes, through licensed and unlicensed money changers, stores that the United States says “fail to adequately vet their customers” and allow Hezbollah “to take advantage of Lebanon’s largely cash-based economy to launder illicit money.”
Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah last November. The conflict began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza offensive.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, provoking Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments in return. Low-level trading escalated into full-scale war in September 2024.
