Jerusalem (AFP) – The Israeli military carried out a fresh series of strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday, exactly a year into a ceasefire with the militant group.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli aircraft launched “a series of raids on Al-Mahmoudiya and Al-Jarmak”, just north of the Litani River.
The November 27, 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two sides.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country was “in a one-sided war of attrition that is escalating”.
The Israeli military said it “struck and dismantled Hezbollah terror infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon”, in a statement after Thursday’s strikes.
The US has been piling pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.
The Lebanese military has said it is carrying out its plan to disarm the group, but Washington and Israel have accused Lebanese authorities of stalling the process.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “rejected the Israeli claims”, his office said Thursday, adding that the Lebanese army was “preventing armed displays, confiscating ammunition, inspecting tunnels, among other things”.
On Thursday, Aoun met Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, who said that a year on from the ceasefire, “uncertainty remains”.
“For too many Lebanese, the conflict is ongoing – albeit at a lower intensity. And one does not need a crystal ball to understand that as long as the current status quo continues, the spectre of future hostilities will continue to loom large,” she said.
In a statement posted by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Thursday evening, the peacekeeping force said it continued to find “illegal weapons” in southern Lebanon.
UNIFIL said it also recorded over 10,000 air and ground violations of the truce in the past year.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier this week warned there would be “no calm” in Lebanon if Israel’s security was not guaranteed.
An Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday killed Haitham Ali Tabatabai – the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the ceasefire entered into force.
The Lebanese premier slammed Hezbollah’s claims that its weapons deter Israeli aggression.
“These weapons did not protect either Hezbollah’s leaders or the Lebanese people and their property,” Salam said.
“Are Hezbollah’s weapons currently capable of repelling the ongoing Israeli attacks? These weapons have provided neither deterrence nor protection, nor have they brought victory to Gaza.”
BrikoX@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
How can it be a ceacefire if firing never stopped?
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 4 days ago
every article that mentions “ceasefire” is complicit in genocide.
however, is that repeatedly violated “cease fire” even relevant for Lebanon? it wasn’t part of the agreement been Israel and Hamas. so why tf bring it up? are they trying to paint an attack to another country as an small cease fire violation?