Israel says it struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after warnings

JERUSALEM - Israel’s military struck several locations in south Lebanon on Feb 2, including in two villages where it issued evacuation warnings, saying it was hitting Hezbollah targets.

Despite a

November 2024 truce

that sought to end more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed group, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.

The Israeli military said it struck “several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in southern Lebanon, in order to prevent re-establishment attempts”.

It added that one of the targets was “in the heart of a civilian area”, accusing the group of “continued operations from within civilian infrastructure”.

The Israeli army had previously sent evacuation warnings for the towns of Kfar Tibnit and Ain Qana in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on the targeted buildings in both towns.

Earlier on Feb 2, the Lebanese Health Ministry said an Israeli strike on Ansariyeh in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded four others.

Another strike on Qleileh, elsewhere in the south, also wounded four people, according to the ministry.

The NNA reported Israeli strikes on vehicles near both areas, which came without warning.

The Israeli army said it killed an operative who “was involved in attempts to rehabilitate Hezbollah military infrastructure” in Ansariyeh.

Lebanon has repeatedly protested against Israeli strikes on the country as violations of the ceasefire.

In January, Lebanon’s army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30km from the Israeli border.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticised Lebanon’s army’s progress as insufficient, while

Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons

.

More than 360 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP news agency tally of health ministry reports. AFP