Israel struck multiple targets in Lebanon on Monday in response to an attack by Hezbollah, marking the first such incident since the ceasefire took effect last Wednesday.
Hezbollah claimed that its attack on an Israeli military post in Kfar Shouba in the disputed Shebaa Farms area was a “preliminary defensive warning” in response to Israel’s violations of the ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack in a statement, saying that Hezbollah launched two projectiles toward the area.
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying that Hezbollah’s attack “constitutes a serious violation of the ceasefire” and that Israel “will respond strongly to this.”
Late on Monday, the Israeli military announced on X that its air force attacked “terrorists, dozens of launchers and infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah throughout Lebanon,” including the launcher that Hezbollah used in its attack. Israel’s operation, according to the statement, was a response to Hezbollah’s earlier attack.
“The State of Israel demands that the relevant authorities in the State of Lebanon implement the understandings and prevent hostile activity by the terrorist organization Hezbollah from its territory,” read the statement.
According to Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry, one of the strikes in the town of Haris, in Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district, killed five people, while a strike on the town of Talousa killed four people.
Prior to the tit-for-tat strikes on Monday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a number of Israeli strikes and drone flyovers after the ceasefire went into effect.
NNA reported earlier on Monday that Israeli forces fired two artillery shells toward the southern Lebanese town of Beit Lif, while heavy machine gun fire targeted Yaroun.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday reported one death from a strike in Marjayoun, following strikes on Sunday in Al-Bisariya and Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon, resulting in four injuries. Another strike on Saturday reportedly killed three people.
Israeli media outlets reported on Sunday that French diplomats had accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement 52 times. The US reportedly followed suit, with US special envoy Amos Hochstein conveying to Israeli officials in Jerusalem that the US believes Israel is not abiding by the truce, which outlines a 60-day cessation of hostilities, allowing for Hezbollah fighters to withdraw northward past the Litani River and Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
The US-brokered ceasefire, if it holds, would end over a year of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel and a two-month-long Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and bombing campaign across the country. But the second clause of the agreement states that Israel will not carry out offensive operations in Lebanon, and that the Lebanese government will prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel. Attacks by Hezbollah and Israel in recent days may put the already fragile ceasefire in jeopardy.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
