Israeli forces carried out several new drone and artillery strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, including a deadly strike that the Health Ministry and state media said killed one person, further shaking a tenuous ceasefire meant to end more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the truce. His defense minister warned that if the ceasefire collapses, Israel will target not just Hezbollah but the Lebanese state — an expansion of Israel’s campaign.
Israel also carried out an airstrike in Syria, saying it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria’s army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group. Israel has repeatedly hit Hezbollah targets in Syria, but Tuesday's attack was a rare public acknowledgement. Syrian state media reported that an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person.
Since the two-month ceasefire in Lebanon began last Wednesday, the US- and French-brokered deal has been rattled by near daily Israeli attacks, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them.
On Monday, it was shaken by its biggest test yet. Hezbollah fired two projectiles toward an Israeli-held disputed border zone, its first volley since the ceasefire began, saying it was a “warning” in response to Israel’s strikes. Israel responded with its heaviest barrage of the past week, killing 10 people.
On Tuesday, drone strikes hit four places in southern Lebanon, one of them killing a person in the town of Shebaa, the state-run National News Agency said. The Health Ministry confirmed the death, The Associated Press reported.
Asked about the strike, the Israeli military said its aircraft struck a Hezbollah militant who posed a threat to troops. Shebaa is situated within a region of border villages where the Israeli military has warned Lebanese civilians not to return, with Israeli troops still present.
Israeli forces fired an artillery shell at one location and opened fire with small arms toward a town, the news agency reported.
With Tuesday’s death, Israeli strikes since the ceasefire began have killed at least 15 people.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to withdraw its fighters, weapons and infrastructure from a broad swath of the south by the end of the initial 60-day phase, pulling them north of the Litani River. Israeli troops are also to pull back to their side of the border.
