Israel says it carried out strikes against Hezbollah despite truce

Photo: Agence France-Presse Naji Zein, a 72-year-old Lebanese man who fled his home during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, reads a verse from the Quran as he walks to his home in Haret Hreik, a southern suburb of Beirut, on November 30, 2024, four days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect.

Anne-Sophie Labadie – Agence France-Presse and Lisa Golden – Agence France-Presse In Beirut

Published yesterday at 11:52

• Middle East

The Israeli army announced 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 Wednesday in Lebanon, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open warfare between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed movement supported by Iran.

The conflict had forced 60,000 people in Israel and 900,000 others in Lebanon to flee their homes.

On the eve of its entry into force, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that his country would maintain “complete freedom of military action” in Lebanon, “if Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm.”

The Israeli army announced in a statement that it had carried out four strikes on Saturday, including one targeting “a Hezbollah installation […] in the region of Saida”, the large city in southern Lebanon. It also said it targeted “a military vehicle operating near a Hezbollah rocket manufacturing site.”

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Lebanese state news agency ANI reported a “drone strike on a car” in the southern district of Tyre, as well as shelling of the border village of Khiam and intermittent artillery fire on the outskirts of the village of Shaqra.

«Hidden weapons»

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.”

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The Israeli air force also said it had 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.”

Hezbollah 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 displaced people.

According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed since October 2023, most since the end of 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 to cooperate with it on Friday.

Despite the truce, residents of the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanese border, said they were not at peace.

Video of a hostage

“As long as I hear more 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.

A sign that the situation is unstable, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Saturday extended its recommendations to airlines to avoid flying over Lebanon, as well as Iran, and to apply a “rigorous surveillance process” when flying over Israel.

The Israeli army is also continuing its operations in the Gaza Strip, where it wants to destroy Hamas.

The war in the Palestinian territory has led to a disastrous humanitarian situation.

The Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday the death of three Palestinians working for the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK), in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis (south).

The Israeli army confirmed that one of the aid workers killed worked for WCK and was a “terrorist”.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas attack, which resulted in the death of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages. killed or died in captivity.

During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped on Israeli soil. A total of 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

The armed wing of Hamas released a new video of an Israeli hostage on Saturday.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza in retaliation has left at least 44,382 dead, the majority of them civilians, according to data from Hamas's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.