Photo: Mahmoud Zayyat Agence France-Presse Cars drive through southern Lebanon, near Ghazieh, where portraits of Hezbollah members are displayed.
Anne-Sophie Labadie – Agence France-Presse and Lisa Golden – Agence France-Presse
Published at 14:19 Updated at 16:07
- Middle East
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had carried out several airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, undermining the ceasefire with the Lebanese Islamist movement.
A truce between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect in Lebanon on Wednesday, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open warfare between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed movement.
The conflict had forced 60,000 people in Israel and 900,000 others in Lebanon to flee their homes.
On the eve of the truce’s entry into force, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would retain “complete freedom of military action” in Lebanon, “if Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm.”
The Israeli army announced in a statement that it had carried out four strikes on Saturday, including one targeting “a Hezbollah facility […] in the area of Saida,” the major city in southern Lebanon. It also said it targeted “a military vehicle operating near a Hezbollah rocket manufacturing site.”
Lebanon’s official news agency ANI reported a “drone strike on a car” in the southern district of Tyre, as well as a shelling of the border village of Khiam and intermittent artillery fire on the outskirts of the village of Shaqra.
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“Weapons hidden”
Still in the south of the country, where its forces are present, the Israeli army claimed to have “located and confiscated weapons hidden in a mosque.”
The Israeli Air Force also said it carried out a raid on Saturday in the east of the country on “military infrastructure sites near crossing points between Syria and Lebanon used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Hezbollah had opened a “support” front for Hamas against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
After months of exchanges of fire on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on September 23 on the strongholds of the Lebanese movement, followed by ground operations in southern Lebanon, claiming to want to secure its northern border and allow the return of moved.
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed since October 2023, most since late September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have died in 13 months, according to the authorities.
Sponsored by the United States and France, the ceasefire agreement provides for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon within 60 days.
Hezbollah must withdraw to the north of the Litani River, about 30 km from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the South, where only the Lebanese army and the Blue Helmets will be deployed.
The Lebanese army began deploying troops and armored vehicles in the south of the country on Wednesday, and Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem pledged on Friday to cooperate with she.
Despite the truce, residents of the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanese border, confided that they were not at peace.
Video of a hostage
“As long as I still hear gunshots,” as long as I see the Israeli army in Lebanon, “I don't want to come back,” says Rakhel Revach, who says she is “passing through” her city, which she had to flee because of the fighting.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) extended its recommendations to airlines on Saturday to avoid flying over Lebanon.
The Israeli army is also continuing its operations in the Gaza Strip, where it wants to destroy Hamas and where the humanitarian situation is disastrous.
The Civil Defense announced on Saturday the death of three Palestinians working for the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK), in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis. The NGO confirmed their deaths, while the Israeli army accused one of them of participating in the October 7 attack.
Photo: Bashar Taleb Agence France-Presse
The war in Gaza was triggered by this attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity.
During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped on Israeli soil. In total, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.
Hamas’ armed wing released a video on Saturday of an Israeli-American hostage, Edan Alexander, who is calling on Israelis and Americans to pressure the government for his release.
The Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation in Gaza has left at least 44,382 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from Hamas’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
In Israel, a former defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, denounced “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza on Saturday, provoking an outcry among the political class.