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Israel bombed dozens of targets across Lebanon on Monday evening, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israeli-controlled territory, in an exchange of fire that put the truce between the two sides under serious pressure.
The Lebanese state news agency announced that Israeli airstrikes hit multiple locations in the southern parts of the country, some as far as 50 km from the border with Israel.
Israel said the strikes targeted Hezbollah militants, rocket launchers and infrastructure. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least nine people were killed in the bombings.
This was followed by a salvo from the Israel Defense Forces Hezbollah on Monday fired two rockets at an Israeli position in the disputed territory of Shebaa Farms, in what the Lebanese militant group said was a “defensive response” to “repeated” Israeli violations of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Israel has carried out multiple attacks since the ceasefire took effect last Wednesday, killing at least 13 people in Lebanon, according to the health ministry, including one member of Lebanon’s state security forces.
Israeli drones have also been heard flying low over Beirut several times in the past few days, including an IDF strike on Monday night.
The Israeli military said that despite the airstrikes, it remains “bound” by the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.
But the flare-up highlighted the fragility of the accord, which raised hopes of an end to the deadliest conflict between the two sides in decades.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli forces are to withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days and be replaced by the Lebanese army.
Hezbollah is being asked to retreat behind the Litani River, which flows up to 30 km north of the disputed border between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel insists it reserves the right to unilaterally enforce the agreement through military action, which the Lebanese dispute.
Before the Israeli airstrikes on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond “to any violation by Hezbollah” of the ceasefire agreement. “Smaller will be treated as big,” he added.
It remains unclear how violations will be handled. In recent days, officials from the US and France, who are supposed to play a central role in ensuring the ceasefire is respected, have expressed concern about the violations.
A French diplomatic source said Paris had “warned both sides against actions that threaten the implementation of the ceasefire agreement”.
The Biden administration’s envoy, Amos Hochstein, who played a key role in brokering the truce, also conveyed concerns to Israeli officials about Israeli violations of the agreement.
The speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, Nabih Berri, said Lebanon had recorded at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire since it took effect and called on the committee overseeing its implementation to “urgently” begin work.
“The aggressive actions carried out by the Israeli occupation forces are a flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire,” he added.
However, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, insisted that Israel is not violating the deal “but is implementing it in response to Hezbollah’s violations.”
“The presence of Hezbollah operatives south of Litani is a fundamental violation of the agreement and they must move north,” he said.
