Israel Launches Night Raids on South, East Lebanon

People walk past debris and damaged buildings in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
People walk past debris and damaged buildings in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Israel Launches Night Raids on South, East Lebanon

People walk past debris and damaged buildings in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
People walk past debris and damaged buildings in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel, on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Israeli warplanes launched late on Thursday a series of airstrikes targeting areas in the south and east of Lebanon, state-run National New Agency (NNA) reported, despite a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli warplanes launched two waves of airstrikes that targeted the valley located between the towns of Azza and Bfaroueh in southern Lebanon at around 10:35 pm local time (2035 GMT), the agency said.

Also, Israel launched multiple strikes in the eastern Mountain Range near the Syrian border and an area in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon, NNA reported.

Israeli jets were also seen over Beirut and its suburbs, according to the report.

The Israel army said in a statement early on Friday that it conducted a strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons.

Israeli forces “conducted a precise strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons, which were in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the army said on social media.

A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities. In late September 2024, the conflict escalated and led to two months of all-out war.

Under the ceasefire deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.

Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

After Israel affirmed that it will not meet the 60-day deadline for its full withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the agreement was extended to February 18.

In the past weeks, both Hezbollah and Israel mutually accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

Israel has confirmed it will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its capabilities or transfer weapons.



German, Austrian Ministers Break Off Planned Syria Trip Because of Possible Threat

27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
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German, Austrian Ministers Break Off Planned Syria Trip Because of Possible Threat

27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The German and Austrian interior ministers broke off a planned trip to Syria on Thursday because of a possible threat to their delegation, German authorities said.
Germany's Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, and a German military plane was supposed to fly Faeser's delegation into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning.
But her ministry said that the trip was broken off before the flight could depart from Amman “because of concrete warnings by German security authorities of a terrorist threat,” German news agency dpa reported. It added that a threat to the delegation couldn't be ruled out, and that it wouldn't have been responsible to travel in view of that possible threat.
The trip hadn't been announced ahead of time. The two ministers had planned to speak with ministers in the interim government and with representatives of UN aid organizations, The Associated Press said.
Germany in particular has been a major destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade.
Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus and reopened the German Embassy, 13 years after it was shut in the early days of Syria’s civil war.
Baerbock, who met interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and others, said Europe needs “eyes and ears” on the ground as it follows the Syrian political transition. It was her second visit since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December.