Israel warned on Sunday that its military would step up attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon, accusing the government there of delaying the disarmament of the movement, which was committed to under a US-brokered ceasefire deal last year. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
Lebanon signed a cease-fire with Israel in November 2024 after a conflict erupted over the Gaza war. Nevertheless, the army of the Jewish state continues to maintain its troops in five areas in the south of Lebanon and sporadically conducts airstrikes against the neighboring country, the declared targets of which are Hezbollah positions.
“They are playing with fire”
Since last year, the United States has been pressuring the Lebanese authorities to disarm Hezbollah, which the movement and its allies have refused to do. The Iranian-backed militant group has been significantly weakened by Israeli operations, but it still has weapons and is financially resilient.
“Hezbollah is playing with fire and the Lebanese president is stalling,” Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Kac said in a statement. According to him, Beirut must fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah and expel it from southern Lebanon.
“We will continue with the most severe measures and we will intensify them – we will not allow the residents of northern Israel to be exposed to any threat,” added Kac. AFP recalls that as a result of cross-border shelling, Israelis living near the border with Lebanon were forced to evacuate for several months.
They committed to a truce
According to Reuters, Hezbollah has publicly committed to a ceasefire, has not resisted the seizure of weapons depots in southern Lebanon, and has not attacked Israel since the November agreement. But he insists that disarmament, as outlined in the agreement, only applies to the south, and has hinted that if the Lebanese state takes action against him, there could be a conflict.
Despite the ceasefire, the Israeli army has not stopped airstrikes in Lebanon. In recent days, it has even intensified them – most recently, on Saturday, four people became victims of an Israeli strike. The Israeli military claimed that all were members of Hezbollah, with one of them said to have been involved in transporting weapons and trying to rebuild the movement’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
