Israel launches series of strikes on Lebanon

Beirut: Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound.

The attacks come as the committee monitoring the ceasefire, in effect since November 2024, which includes the United States, France and the UN in addition to Lebanon and Israel, is set to meet on Friday.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes in the south and east.

The Israeli military said it targeted “terror infrastructure sites in multiple areas across Lebanon” including “a military compound used by Hezbollah to conduct training and courses” for the Iran-backed group’s members.

In another statement, the military said: “A short while ago, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the area of Taybeh in southern Lebanon.”

Lebanon’s health ministry said four people were wounded in the Taybeh strike.

But the NNA reported that the strike wounded several employees in Lebanon’s state electricity company, as their truck was passing next to the targeted vehicle.

Despite the ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, Israel has intensified its attacks.

On Tuesday, two people were killed in Israeli strikes, one of them 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Beirut.

Around 340 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement went into force, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.

Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon’s army is to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.

Israel accuses the group of rearming and has cast doubt on the Lebanese army’s ability to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

A meeting on Lebanon is taking place on Thursday in Paris with the Lebanese army chief and American and Saudi officials, at a time when France and the United States are pressuring the Lebanese government to accelerate Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called the Israeli strikes “an Israeli message to the Paris conference dedicated to supporting the Lebanese army”.