Israel says it will attack Hezbollah ‘forcefully’ as four killed in strikes on southern Lebanon

BEIRUT - Israel said on April 25 it would attack Hezbollah targets forcefully, further testing a fragile ceasefire with Lebanon that US President Donald Trump recently said had been extended by three weeks.

Four people were killed on April 25 in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, while the Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel, the latest challenges to a tenuous ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, but Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have continued to clash in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in the self-declared buffer zone.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the military had been instructed to attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon forcefully, providing no further details.

The Israeli military said on April 25 that it had struck loaded rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in three locations in southern Lebanon overnight and targeted several Hezbollah fighters in separate strikes.

It said later in the day that it had also struck facilities used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces in southern Lebanon.

It was unclear whether the deaths reported by the state news agency were linked to those Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military restated its warning for Lebanese residents not to approach the Litani River area in southern Lebanon while it battles Hezbollah.

It said it had intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” within the area its forces are presently occupying, and that two rockets were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel, one of which was intercepted. There were no reports of casualties.

A Hezbollah lawmaker said on April 24 that a US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless, a day after it was extended for three weeks.

The truce had been due to expire on April 26. REUTERS