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ISRAEL carried out airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, targeting sites said to host infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas, amid ongoing tensions and ahead of a Lebanese government meeting to discuss disarmament of armed groups near the Israeli border.
AP reported that the strikes followed warnings issued on X by Israel’s military Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, specifying that targets in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon would be hit.
The operations began nearly two hours after these warnings.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that one of the struck properties in the Bekaa village of Manara belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.
The Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed that a drone strike on a vehicle in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people; the Israeli military said the target was two Hezbollah members.
Monday’s strikes occurred in areas north of the Litani River, away from the immediate Israel-Lebanon border, and came as Lebanon prepares to review the disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups.
Lebanese army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal is expected to brief the government on Thursday regarding progress in clearing the south Litani area of armed Hezbollah presence, a process initiated last year alongside the disarmament of Palestinian factions.
The recent operations follow a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, triggered on October 8, 2023, after Hamas attacked southern Israel and Hezbollah fired rockets in solidarity.
Israel responded with a series of extensive bombings across Lebanon, followed by a ground offensive in September 2024, which significantly weakened Hezbollah’s military leadership. The conflict concluded in November 2024 with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has maintained frequent airstrikes targeting Hezbollah positions, which according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, have resulted in the deaths of 127 civilians alongside militant casualties.
The ongoing operations underscore the fragile security situation in southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese government is seeking to assert control and implement disarmament measures while Israel continues to pursue strikes against militant infrastructure beyond the immediate border zone.
This latest escalation illustrates the persistent tension along the Israel-Lebanon frontier, as both sides continue to navigate the legacy of the recent conflict and the broader regional dynamics involving Iran-backed groups and Palestinian factions. - January 6, 2025
