Israeli forces kill two in Lebanon, ahead of truce monitors meeting

A committee monitoring Israel’s year-long ceasefire with Hezbollah was scheduled to hold its next meeting the day before Israeli forces killed two people in southern Lebanon.

In an attack on a house in south Lebanon’s Kfar Dunin on Tuesday, according to Lebanon’s NNA news agency, two people were killed.

One of the Hezbollah operatives was identified as an “engineering terrorist in a structure that facilitated the organization’s reestablishment efforts,” according to a statement from the Israeli military.

The committee overseeing the ceasefire, which includes representatives from France, Israel, Lebanon, the United States, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), is getting ready for a meeting on Wednesday.

Since the ceasefire ended in November 2024, more than 300 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 127 civilians.

At least two people were killed earlier this week when Israeli forces bombarded several areas of Lebanon, and they also mandated the forced eviction of at least four villages in the country’s south and east.

According to a video that Al Jazeera and an AFP news agency verified, another overnight attack destroyed a multistory building in Ghaziyeh town, close to the coastal city of Sidon.

Despite Lebanon’s response to these efforts at various levels, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stated earlier on Tuesday that “Israel’s continued attacks aim to thwart every efforts made locally, regionally, and internationally to stop the ongoing Israeli escalation.”

Following last week’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, security affairs analyst Ali Rizk from Beirut told Al Jazeera that the recent attacks are not surprising.

According to Rizk, “Israel has been given the green light to escalate against Hezbollah.”

“Difficult and hazardous circumstances”

Israeli attacks are continuing in close proximity to UNIFIL peacekeepers stationed along the Blue Line, which defines the de facto boundary between Israel, Lebanon, and the occupied Golan Heights, according to Stephane Dujarric, a UN secretary-general’s spokesperson, in a press conference in New York on Tuesday.

According to Dujarric, “We are aware that Israeli strikes were carried out late on Monday night in response to evacuation orders placed on targets that are reportedly linked to Hezbollah and Hamas.”

The strikes took place in southern Lebanon’s Lebanese territory, including in western Bekaa, north of the Litani River.

According to Dujarric, the UNIFIL peacekeepers reported Monday that they had “three air strikes in their areas of operation” and that there had been “several fighter aircraft activities above UNIFIL.”

Our peacekeepers also reported numerous direct fire incidents involving Israeli army positions south of the Blue Line, including one involving a Merkava tank fire close to Shab ‘a, and another involving a UN position close to Kfar Shouba, according to Dujarric.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Undersecretary-General for Peace Operations, told X that he had met with UNIFIL peacekeepers who were “accomplifying their mandated duties under increasingly difficult and dangerous circumstances.”

On Wednesday, Lacroix will meet with Lebanonese officials.

Lebanon’s cabinet will meet later this week to discuss the army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah, a move that was prompted by US pressure and concerns about increased Israeli airstrikes.

By the end of 2025, the army was supposed to finish disarmament south of the Litani River, which was located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Israel’s border, before taking action against the rest of the nation.