Israel widened and intensified its strikes on southern Lebanon, attacking five towns after issuing an evacuation waring to residents and sparking panic and a large wave of displacement.
The army ordered people to evacuate several buildings, claiming they were being used by Hezbollah.
The US brokered a truce in November between Lebanon and Israel after more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, but Israel has continued sporadically to attack Iranian-backed Hezbollah across the border.
US envoy Morgan Ortagus is expected in Beirut later this week to take part in the meetings of the ceasefire monitoring committee.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli escalation, saying Lebanon was committed to the ceasefire and the committee meetings.
“However, where is Israel’s commitment? How can the meetings possibly continue amid this terror and violations?” he wondered.
The meetings are expected to tackle the full implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 and the cessation of hostilities.
“Lebanon calls on the international community, especially the sponsors of the ceasefire, to stop these hostilities and exert the greatest pressure on Israel to make it immediately end its attacks and return to the ceasefire mechanisms,” urged Salam.
It must respect its commitments, including withdrawing from Lebanese territories it is occupying and releasing the prisoners, he demanded.
President Joseph Aoun slammed the Israeli attacks, calling on the countries sponsoring the ceasefire to put an end immediate to the flagrant violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
“Israel is not respecting the work mechanism and none of the sponsors of the agreement. Its daily raids are a blatant violation of resolution 1701,” he said in a statement.
“The silence of the sponsors is dangerous and encourages these violations,” he warned. “The mechanism must serve all parties, not cover Israel’s violations.”
Shortly after the escalation, the Lebanese army announced that Israel had violated the ceasefire some 4,500 times since it was reached.
In a statement, it warned that the violations were hampering its deployment in the South in line with the agreement.
Hezbollah ‘infrastructure’
In the greatest escalation in months, Israel issued warnings on Wednesday to the residents of the towns of Mays al-Jabal, Kfar Tebnit, and Debbine. Less than an hour later, it carried out air raids on Hezbollah “infrastructure”.
It then issued similar warnings to the towns of al-Chehabiyeh and Burj Qallawiyah.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in the warnings that the “terrorist” Hezbollah was trying to revive its operations in these areas in violation of the ceasefire.
He posted images of the buildings people should evacuate “for their safety”, sparking panic among the population.
The National News Agency reported a wave of displacement as a result of the warnings.
