The Israeli military on Monday launched strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit what it called Hezbollah and Hamas targets in four villages.
It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
A photographer in Kfar Hatta, one of the targeted villages in southern Lebanon, saw dozens of families flee the village after the warning was issued, amid drone activity in the area, adding that ambulances and fire trucks were on standby.
Photo: AP
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on four villages.
It later reported a new series of strikes near the southern towns of Saksakiyeh and Sarafand, without prior warning.
The strike on al-Manara in eastern Lebanon caused “the complete destruction of a house, and serious damage to surrounding houses, cars and commercial establishments,” the NNA reported.
The Israeli military in a statement said that it “began striking Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in Lebanon.”
In two posts on social media, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the villages were Kfar Hatta and Annan in southern Lebanon, and al-Manara and Ain al-Tineh in eastern Lebanon.
Adraee said the military would hit Hezbollah sites in Kfar Hatta and Ain al-Tinah, and Hamas sites in Annan and al-Manara.
The NNA said the home targeted in al-Manara belonged to Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in 2024.
Despite a year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites and operatives, and occasionally Hamas targets.
Two people were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle on Sunday, about 10km from the border, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
An Israeli strike In November last year on southern Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp killed 13 people.
Israel said it targeted a Hamas compound, with the group rejecting the claim.
It has also hit Hamas’ ally in Lebanon, the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the ceasefire.
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Beirut has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened after more than a year of hostilities with Israel, including two months of open war that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.
Lebanon’s army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30km from the border with Israel — by the end of last year, before tackling the rest of the country.
All four of Monday’s targeted villages are located north of the river.
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar on Sunday called the disarmament efforts far from sufficient.
Lebanon’s Cabinet is to meet tomorrow to discuss the army’s progress, while the ceasefire monitoring committee — comprising Lebanon, Israel, the US, France and UN peacekeepers — is also set to meet this week.
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