Israel says it struck Hezbollah target in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
Jerusalem: The Israeli military said that its air force struck a Hezbollah target in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that the strike targeted a “strategic weapons manufacturing and storage site” belonging to Hezbollah.
The IDF claimed the activity at the site constituted “a broad violation of the understanding between Israel and Lebanon.”
The statement added that the IDF continues to operate to remove any threat to Israel and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to rebuild its forces, under the ceasefire understandings, Xinhua news agency reported.
A ceasefire that took effect in November 2024, halted the year-long conflict between Hamas and Israel. Despite the truce, Israeli military forces launched sporadic attacks in Lebanon, saying they were targeting Hezbollah positions that violated the ceasefire agreement.
The Lebanese government has repeatedly condemned the Israeli attacks. After Israel failed to meet the initial withdrawal deadline from southern Lebanon, authorities extended the deadline to February 18.
Earlier on Thursday Israeli warplanes launched multiple raids on the heights of the eastern Mountain Range and an area in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding Israel also launched several airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon.
Prior to the airstrikes, Israeli aircraft conducted intensive low-altitude flights over the town of Rashaya and western Bekaa, while flying at higher altitudes over the city of Hermel and northern Bekaa in eastern Lebanon.
Israeli jets were also seen over Beirut and its suburbs, according to the report.
These developments come despite the ongoing ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military, which took effect on November 27, 2024, and was meant to end more than a year of cross-border clashes triggered by the war in Gaza.