About 12 kilometers (8 miles) south of Beirut, an airplane that was involved in the air raid struck a vehicle on a busy motorway in the Khaldeh region on Thursday.
The Israeli military said it targeted the area’s “military sites and weapons depots.”
Israel has been bombing an area close to the Lebanese capital as a further escalation since it reached a truce with Hezbollah in November of last year, almost daily bombarding the area.
The victims’ identities have not been made public.
According to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, who was reporting from Beirut’s security, the Israeli airstrike occurred at rush hour, with many people traveling from Beirut to South Lebanon.
“Israel is also demonstrating a lack of restraint.” The state has little influence over how these attacks are stopped by the Lebanese state. If it does, Hezbollah, too, could launch harsh Israeli retaliation, according to Khodr.
“We don’t see large-scale Israeli bombardments targeting areas where Hezbollah has influence like we saw last year, but we do see attacks happening almost daily.”
Later on Thursday, the Israeli military launched a string of airstrikes against south Lebanon, with heavy bombings targeting Nabatieh’s immediate vicinity, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.
Officials in Lebanon frequently condemn these attacks and demand that Israel, who were the two sponsors of the ceasefire last year, put an end to them.
The US and its Western allies have been unwilling to hold Israel accountable, despite diplomatic efforts having failed to stop the ceasefire violations.
After suffering agonizing blows in its conflict with Israel last year, the repeated Israeli attacks are putting pressure on Hezbollah’s position in Lebanon.
In what it called a “support front,” the Iran-allied group launched an attack on Israeli military installations at the border in October 2023 to put an end to the Gaza war.
Although the conflict largely centered on the border region for months, Israel launched an unprecedented assault on Lebanon in September of last year, destroying significant portions of the nation, especially those areas where Hezbollah is supported.
Hezbollah’s chief political and military figures, including Hassan Nasrallah, were also killed by the Israeli military.
In accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a previous conflict in 2006, a ceasefire was reached in November.
Hezbollah was ordered to withdraw its forces from the border with Israel, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Litani River.
However, in violation of the agreement, Israel continued to occupy some of south Lebanon after the truce was over and launched attacks all over the country.
Hezbollah has stayed out of the conflict by refraining from speaking out. Additionally, Israel has not been retaliated against by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Lebanese media reports that the US has proposed to force Hezbollah to disarm in exchange for a full withdrawal from the country and an end to Israel’s attacks.
However, Naim Qassem, the organization’s secretary-general, slammed any offer to give up the weapons that would involve Israel.
We are a non-religious group, the statement goes. Our land will not be given up. The Israeli enemy will not give up its weapons, Qassem remarked. And we won’t consent to being threatened with concessions.
Qassem previously warned that Hezbollah’s “patience” may run out if it allows the Lebanese state to deal with Israeli attacks diplomatically.
It is unclear whether Hezbollah is positioned to rekindle its conflict with Israel given the cost of the previous war on both the military and its civilian base.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply