Israel attacks alleged Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight on Thursday. The attacks were accompanied by incursions into border towns, where Israeli troops blew up two houses, according to Lebanese media.
Despite a fragile US-brokered ceasefire, Israel has routinely attacked its northern neighbor, accusing it of violating its side of the agreement.
In a statement on Thursday, the IDF said it struck Hezbollah’s “weapons storage facilities, missile launchers, and military sites” across the border.
“The presence of these infrastructure sites constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” it said.
The IDF also carried out ground incursions and sabotage operations in two border towns in southern Lebanon, with such attacks growing in frequency in recent weeks, Lebanese news portal Naharnet reported on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Israeli forces sprayed the herbicide glyphosate – banned in many countries over fears that it causes cancer – on the Lebanese side of the border, according to the outlet. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the action as a “crime against the environment.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at the time confirmed that Israel had notified it of plans to spray a “non-toxic chemical substance” in the area.
The peacekeeping force is set to withdraw from Lebanon by mid-2027 after its UN mandate expires this December, nearly five decades after its establishment, spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel said last week.
The drawdown comes as fears over a new clash between Hezbollah and Israel grow. The two sides entered a US-backed ceasefire in late 2024, which was to put an end to nearly a year of fighting after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. However, Israeli forces have regularly attacked Lebanese territory since, accusing the militant group of breaking the armistice. The IDF has also repeatedly shelled UNIFIL positions.
Russia is leveraging its bilateral and multilateral diplomatic channels and working with all sides to “maintain the fragile ceasefire,” Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Aleksandr Rudakov said last week.
