BEIRUT, Lebanon: The Israeli military launched air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit four villages.
It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
In Kfar Hatta, one of the targeted villages in south Lebanon, dozens of families fled the village after the warning was issued, amid drone activity in the area, AFP reported. Ambulances and fire trucks were on standby in the targeted village.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on the four villages.
According to the NNA, the strike on Al-Manara in eastern Lebanon caused “the complete destruction of a house and serious damage to surrounding houses, cars and commercial establishments”.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it “began striking Hezbollah and Hamas targets in Lebanon”.
In two separate posts on X, the military’s spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the villages were Kfar Hatta and Annan in south Lebanon, and Al-Manara and Ain al-Tinah in eastern Lebanon.
The NNA said the home targeted in Al-Manara belonged to Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in 2024.
Repeated attacks
Despite a year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites.
Two people were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle on Sunday, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, the Lebanese health ministry said.
In November, an Israeli strike on south Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp killed 13 people.
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Beirut has committed to disarming Hezbollah under the November 2024 ceasefire.
Lebanon’s army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel — by the end of 2025, before tackling the rest of the country.
All four of Monday’s targeted villages are located north of the river.
At least 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to Lebanese health ministry reports.
