Israel claims to have hit Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army has announced it targeted a training compound for members of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in southern Lebanon a short while ago. In a statement, the army added that it targeted several other alleged Hezbollah sites in the area.
Since Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire last year, Israel has routinely broken the agreement and targeted Lebanon. According to a UN report last month, at least 127 civilians, including children, have been killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect.
Israel ramps up military pressure on Hezbollah to disarm with latest air attacks
The Israeli military has carried out at least a dozen air attacks on various locations across southern Lebanon and in the east of the country.
The locations were not population centres, but hills and valleys. According to the Israeli army, they were targeting a training compound used by Hezbollah for the second time this week.
A few days ago, in the middle of the night, there was a similar wave of air raids on the same areas.
Hezbollah does not confirm or deny these claims, but the group has come under military pressure from the Israeli army, which is accusing it of trying to reestablish and rearm itself.
This pressure is being seen in Lebanon as a way to get Hezbollah to disarm. But Hezbollah is refusing to do this, instead repeating that it is pulling back from southern Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire and allowing the Lebanese army to dismantle the group’s military infrastructure.
Translation: Footage of the violent Israeli raids that shook southern Lebanon some time ago, especially in the highlands of the Iqlim al-Tuffah region.
Lebanon fears escalated conflict as Israel bombs further north
The ceasefire in Lebanon has been a one-sided truce, since Israel has continued near-daily attacks on the country. Israeli officials have been threatening to significantly escalate military strikes.
It is one of the reasons why Lebanon agreed to sit down for face-to-face talks with the Israelis, engaging in diplomatic talks that are seen as very sensitive in Lebanon, in the hopes that it would avoid war.
But the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, made it clear a few days ago that even though Lebanon is sitting down in a room with a longtime enemy, it does not mean that the Israeli attacks will stop.
It seems now that the Israelis are attacking what they consider to be Hezbollah infrastructure further north, not just focusing on the south of the country. The fear here is that the trajectory is one of escalation in the conflict.
