The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched heavy airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday, accusing Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire agreement by rebuilding its military presence in the region.
The Lebanese Army insisted it has been working hard to disarm Hezbollah and complained the Israeli strikes were making its job more difficult.
The Israeli military issued civilian evacuation warnings for five different locations before the attacks, instructing local residents to stay at least 500 meters away from the targeted buildings. Lebanese civil defense officials cooperated with the evacuations. The airstrikes began about an hour after the warnings were issued.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said an unidentified man was killed and eight others wounded during Israel’s strikes on the town of Toura on Thursday. Another man was reportedly injured in a strike on the town of Tayr Debba.
Israel has been conducting periodic strikes against Hezbollah positions over the past year, as the IDF accused the Iran-backed terrorist organization of moving fighters and weapons back into areas it was supposed to vacate under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement. Thursday’s strikes were much more intense than usual and were the first airstrikes in a year to be preceded by evacuation orders.
“Israel will continue to defend all of its borders, and we continue also to insist on the full enforcement of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel,” said Israeli government spokesman Shosh Bedrosian.
Hezbollah claims it is committed to honoring the ceasefire agreement but will not disarm as long as Israel continues launching strikes on Lebanese territory.
“The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight if necessary to confront this American-Israeli project no matter the cost,” Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in August after meeting with his patrons in Iran.
“The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,” Qassem said.
Hezbollah issued an “open letter” to the Lebanese government and people on Thursday, claiming that the group was devoted to Lebanon’s unity but would continue “resisting foreign pressure and safeguarding national dignity.”
In the letter, Hezbollah claimed it was abiding by the ceasefire, but because Israel continued launching strikes in an effort to “impose submission on Lebanon and extract concessions from it,” the group would keep its weapons and continue exercising its “legitimate right” to “resist” Israel.
The Lebanese government expressed some exasperation with Hezbollah’s belligerent statements and claimed it was making progress toward disarming the group. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was much more angry with Israel for conducting its airstrikes on Thursday than he was with Hezbollah for refusing to disarm.
“What Israel committed today in southern Lebanon constitutes a full-fledged crime under international humanitarian law, which criminalizes the targeting, terrorizing, and forced displacement of civilians,” Aoun said in a statement on Thursday.
“Nearly a year has passed since the ceasefire took effect, and during that period Israel has spared no effort in showing its rejection of any negotiated settlement between the two countries,” he said.
The Lebanese cabinet held a meeting on Thursday in which army leaders once again claimed they were confiscating Hezbollah’s weapons at a steadily increasing pace.
The IDF strongly disagreed, stating that its strikes on Thursday were aimed at massive Hezbollah weapons depots, owned by a Hezbollah unit called the “Radwan Force,” that were “located in the heart of a civilian population.”
The IDF said these illegal weapons caches were “another example of the Hezbollah terror organization’s cynical use of Lebanese civilians as human shields.”
“The Hezbollah terror organization continues attempts to restore terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon and is focusing on rebuilding the unit’s capabilities with the aim of harming the State of Israel,” the Israeli military said.
A senior IDF official said Thursday’s strikes were “just a preview” of the action to come, if Hezbollah does not surrender its weapons.
“If the Lebanese army does not disarm Hezbollah and fails to meet the demands of the ceasefire, Israel, with U.S. backing, will attack Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including in Beirut,” the officer said.
The IDF reportedly presented evidence of Hezbollah’s progress toward rearmament, and the Lebanese Army’s failure to disarm the terrorists, to the U.S. and French governments.
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