The Israeli military has launched airstrikes in the east, expanding the scope of its campaign, as the truce has failed to fully halt hostilities with the Lebanese armed group.
The attacks in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley were the first in the region since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on April 16, which has significantly slowed the pace of attacks but has not stopped them completely.
Israel continues to carry out attacks in areas of southern Lebanon, while its forces remain in a strip of the country’s south, destroying houses it says are Hezbollah infrastructure. The pro-Iranian organization, for its part, continues attacks with drones and rockets against Israeli forces in Lebanon and in northern Israel.
An Israeli military spokesman said strikes had begun on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa, as well as in areas of southern Lebanon. Security sources told Reuters the strikes hit an area near the town of Nabit Sit, near the eastern border with Syria, with no immediate reports of casualties.
The state-run Lebanese News Agency reported several attacks in the south, which injured at least three people.
Hezbollah said on Monday it attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon with a drone. The Israeli military said a drone fired by Hezbollah exploded near its forces in southern Lebanon, causing no casualties.
More than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of its ally Iran, triggering a campaign of air and ground operations that has devastated large swathes of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah and the government trade accusations of treason
The war has deepened divisions in Lebanese society, which is divided over the disarmament of Hezbollah and the possibility of peace talks with Israel. The ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel to the United States have met twice to discuss the truce, which is intended to pave the way for direct peace negotiations between the two longtime enemies.
Hezbollah strongly opposes direct talks, with its leader Naim Qassem calling the negotiations a “humiliating and unnecessary concession” in a written statement.
“Let’s be clear: these direct negotiations and their results are considered non-existent for us and do not concern us at all. We will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people,” Kassem said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun defended the government’s choice of direct talks and on Monday indirectly criticized Hezbollah without naming it.
“What we are doing is not treason, treason is when someone leads their country to war to serve foreign interests,” his office said in a statement, in an apparent reference to Hezbollah’s decision to get involved in the regional conflict last month.
“Some criticize us because we decided to go to negotiations under the pretext of a lack of national consensus. And I ask: when you went to war, did you first ask for national consent?’ Aoun added.
