Israel on Sunday night struck terrorist targets in Lebanon after repeated ceasefire violations by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Israeli fighter jets targeted Hezbollah terror infrastructure inside Lebanon, as well as Iranian weapons supply routes along the border with neighboring Syria. “Over the past hours, the IDF conducted intelligence-based strikes on a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a press statement late night Sunday. “Among the targets struck were a rocket launcher site, a military site, and routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.”
The airstrikes were conducted after international observers apparently ignored Israeli pleas to prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing itself in southern Lebanon, a violation of the November 27 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon. The 60-day ceasefire ends on January 26.
The Israeli military said that the strikes were carried out “after the international ceasefire monitoring mechanism failed to address them, despite being advised on the matter,” The Times of Israel noted Monday. “The IDF said that before the strikes, it made the Hezbollah violations known to an international mechanism set up as part of the ongoing ceasefire, but ‘the threats weren’t addressed’.”
The Israeli news website YNET reported the details of the strikes:
Israel struck multiple locations across southern and eastern Lebanon, including areas far away from the border, the IDF reported Sunday night.(…)The IDF added that the targets included a rocket launch site, a military installation and transit routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used for smuggling weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization.According to Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, strikes targeted the southern Lebanon village of Houmine El Faouqa, approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the Israeli border town of Metula.Later, additional strikes were reported near the village of Janta in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Metula.
On October 8, 2023 — a day after the Hamas massacre, the Lebanon-based terrorist group began firing rockets and drones at Israel, killing at least 72 Israelis, including 12 children playing on a soccer field in July 2024. More than 70,000 Israeli civilians have been forced to evacuate their homes due to relentless Hezbollah cross-border attacks.
Israel has decapitated Hezbollah in a series of airstrikes in late September, eliminating the terror group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and nearly all its top commanders. On October 1, 2024, IDF ground forces entered southern Lebanon to push Hezbollah terror fighters beyond the strategic Litani river — in keeping with the 2006 United Nations agreement.
Israeli air defense array on Monday intercepted another drone launched by the Yemen-based Houthi terrorist group. A “UAV that was launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF [Israeli Air Force] in southern Israel. No sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol,” the Israeli military said in a press release Monday afternoon.
Since October 7, 2023, “about 400 missiles and drones have since been launched at [Israel] from Yemen, most of which have been intercepted,” the BBC noted recently. The Iran-backed jihadist group has also been trying to impose an illegal maritime embargo on Israel by attacking Western-owned shipping in the Red Sea.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY