Israeli Jets Strike Southern Lebanon Towns, Escalating Their Near-Daily Attacks
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli jets struck several towns in southern Lebanon on Thursday, urging residents to leave the area and signaling an increase in attacks. daily strikes on the country.
Airstrikes came hours after militant group Hezbollah He called on the Lebanese government not to enter into negotiations with Israel.
Israeli Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee warned residents of Tayba near the border, Teir Debba just east of the coastal city of Tire, and Aita al-Jabal in southern Lebanon to flee 500 meters (about 1,600 feet) from targeted residences they said were used by Hezbollah. Further warnings were later issued for the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Kfar Dounin.
The Israeli army said it targeted Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in these regions. He accused the group of rebuilding its capabilities almost a year after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended months of war took effect. While most residents evacuated threatened areas ahead of the attacks, Lebanon’s health ministry reported that one person was injured.
“We will not allow Hezbollah to rearm, regroup, or gain power in a way that threatens the state of Israel,” Israeli government spokesman Shosh Bedrosyan said at a briefing on Thursday.
Image alliance via Marwan Naamani/Getty Images
The strikes came as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his government met in Beirut to follow up on a plan drawn up by the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups in the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticized Israel’s attacks and the ongoing occupation of five peaks in Lebanese territory, but said he was open to negotiations with Israel to end the tension.
Israel says its almost daily attacks target Hezbollah officials and military infrastructure, while the Lebanese government, which supports Hezbollah’s disarmament, says the attacks target civilians and infrastructure unrelated to the Iran-backed group.
The powerful group’s military capabilities were severely damaged by Israel’s intense air strike on the small country in 2024, but Hezbollah has not yet disarmed and its leader Sheikh Naim Kassem He said the group would be ready to fight no matter how limited their abilities were.
Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire that supposedly ended the Israel-Hezbollah war last November. The conflict began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. war in Gaza.
He refused to enter into negotiations with the country, promising to defend itself.
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Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, prompting Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardment in return. Low-level exchanges escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported that more than 270 people have been killed and nearly 850 injured in Israeli military operations since the ceasefire came into force. Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said the UN human rights agency had confirmed that 107 of those killed as of October 9 were civilians or non-combatants.
No Israelis have been killed by fire from Lebanon since the ceasefire. Hezbollah has claimed one attack since the agreement came into force.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Treasury announced a new round of sanctions targeting Hezbollah “financial operators that control the movement of funds from Iran,” including that they “failed to conduct adequate screening of their customers” through licensed and unlicensed money exchange shops and allowed Hezbollah to “leverage Lebanon’s largely cash-based economy to launder illicit money.”
Associated Press journalists Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
