Israeli Strikes Hit Lebanon After Evacuation Warnings
BEIRUT: The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had struck Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities in southern Lebanese towns and accused the group of rebuilding its capabilities near the border.
The Israeli army has continued frequent air strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire signed last November to end more than a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The latest raids came a day after 13 people were killed in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas members in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the deadliest attack since the ceasefire came into force.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Wednesday that it had hit “numerous weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah’s rocket unit in Southern Lebanon”, describing such facilities as “a violation of agreements between Israel and Lebanon”.
It had previously warned residents to evacuate the area around areas in the towns of Deir Kifa, Shehur, Ainata and Tayr Felsay in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) later said the raids hit all four locations.
In Deir Kifa, an AFP correspondent saw Lebanese soldiers deployed near the targeted building, which collapsed after the attack.
An AFP reporter in Tayr Felsay saw fireballs and smoke billowing from the crackdown there.
In evacuation warnings in X, the Israeli military said it would “strike military infrastructure… in response to Hezbollah’s prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the region.”
– ‘Dozens’ of sites –
In a later statement, the army targeted the town of Beit Lif, just a few kilometers from the Israeli border.
He accused Hezbollah of rebuilding “dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites in the village area, including headquarters and weapons storage facilities,” some inside civilian homes.
Lebanon says Israel is violating the ceasefire with its attacks and the presence of troops in five regions in the south of the country.
Under heavy US pressure and fears of escalating Israeli attacks, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has rejected the idea of surrendering its weapons.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and 11 others injured in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in Tiri, southern Lebanon, and that Israel killed a Hezbollah operative.
NNA reported that the person killed worked in the local municipality and said that the strike occurred when a university bus carrying students was passing by and some were injured.
On Tuesday, Israel said it had struck the Hamas training facility in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
The Palestinian militant group denied having military facilities in refugee camps in Lebanon and called Israeli claims “lies”.
