Beirut — Israel carried out its first airstrike on Lebanon on Thursday since a truce with Hezbollah announced this week, claiming to have targeted the militant group’s activity at a rocket storage facility in southern Lebanon that violated the ceasefire.
Lebanese authorities reported scattered incidents of Israeli mortar attacks, strikes and gunfire that injured two people trying to return to southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said the injured were civilians, while the Israeli military described them as suspects who had violated the terms of the truce that ended more than a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles in a number of areas in southern Lebanon, violating the conditions of the ceasefire.” The IDF opened fire on them.
“The Israeli army remains in southern Lebanon and will actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement,” the army said.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli fire wounded two civilians in Markaba, a village near the border that has been the scene of intense fighting over the past 14 months. He also reported that Israeli tank fire had hit some villages and farms in the south, without causing any casualties.
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The outbursts of violence – without reports of serious casualties – reflect the tenuous nature of the ceasefire that otherwise appeared to be holding Thursday as Lebanese troops began to deploy in parts of southern Lebanon, eastern the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has based its operations.
The Lebanese army said it was setting up temporary checkpoints and detonating unexploded ordnance in hopes of helping displaced civilians return home.
Some 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon during the country’s deadliest war in decades. Thousands of residents, their cars stuffed with mattresses and stuffed with belongings, began making the odyssey to their war-ravaged towns on Wednesday after the ceasefire came into force.
But their movements remain restricted. Lebanese and Israeli militaries have ordered displaced civilians from border communities to avoid areas where Israeli troops are still in position.
Col. Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesman for the Israeli army, announced that a nighttime curfew for Lebanese residents south of the Litani River remained in effect, prohibiting travel from 5 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday .
The Lebanese army also accused Israel of repeatedly breaking the ceasefire on Thursday by carrying out strikes on Lebanon with “various weapons” and continuing to patrol and monitor Lebanese skies with fighter jets. and drones. The military said it was “monitoring these violations in coordination with relevant authorities,” without elaborating.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel, near the border, heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has not issued any public statements on Israel’s alleged ceasefire violations, but Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah acknowledged the incidents. When journalists asked him what Hezbollah’s reaction would be, he was cautious.
“We don’t want to rush things,” he said, adding that Hezbollah “has the right to defend itself.”
The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire during which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. With the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the buffer zone will be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers who will arrive to replace them, but this is expected to take weeks, and Israel on Thursday retained full control in security issues on both sides of the border region.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said two people were injured by Israeli fire in Markaba, near the border, without providing further details. He said Israel fired artillery at three other locations near the border. No casualties were immediately reported.
Although the detailed terms of the ceasefire agreement have not been made public by the United States, President Biden made clear on Tuesday that Israel retained the right to self-defense, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that any violation of the agreement would be met with a swift and harsh military response.
Israeli officials said forces would be gradually withdrawn to ensure implementation of the deal. Israel has repeatedly warned the population not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
The ceasefire agreement announced Tuesday evening ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began to fire rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity. The Hamas attack saw the militants kill some 1,200 people in southern Israel and take another 250 hostage.
Israel responded with airstrikes and the conflict gradually escalated for nearly a year before escalating into all-out war in mid-September. THE war in Gaza The situation still rages and there is no end in sight, with health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory saying more than 44,280 people have been killed. Most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes, with many forced to flee repeatedly over the past year.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, including many civilians, according to Lebanese health authorities. The fighting has killed more than 70 people in Israel, while more than half were civilians, as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.