The strikes targeted the town of Kfar Melki in Akkar district in Northern Lebanon and the town of Flawiye, West of Baalbek, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Israeli warplanes also carried out three airstrikes targeting the outskirts of the town of Bodai, West of Baalbek.

In Southern Lebanon, Israeli aircraft launched an airstrike on the area between the towns of Ain Qana, Sarba and Houmine Al Faouqa in the Iqlim Al-Tuffah region.

Israeli fighter jets also carried out a heavy airstrike on Wadi Al-Zararia–Razai in Sidon district in the country’s South, in addition to another airstrike targeting the outskirts of the towns of Arzi and Burj Rahal in Tyre district.

NNA reported that Israeli warplanes also bombed the area between the town of Al-Matariyyah on the banks of the Litani River in the Qasmiyeh area of Tyre district in Southern Lebanon.No casualties were reported due to the attack.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam earlier Monday made a visit to the Eastern region of Bekaa, which was bombed by the Israeli military tonight.

“I have repeatedly stated that there is no stability in the country without Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanon and the cessation of its aggressive actions,” he wrote in a post on X, adding that weapons must be confined to the state alone for Lebanese people to feel safe.

Salam stated that the country also needs safety nets to protect its citizens and “balanced development across the homeland”.

This comes as the prime minister, along with President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, are expected to meet with US envoy Tom Barrack in Beirut to discuss the future of Lebanon.

Israel launched an assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 that escalated into a full-scale war by September 23, 2024. The conflict has killed more than 4,000 people, wounded over 17,000 and displaced nearly 1.4 million, according to official data.

Israeli forces have conducted near-daily attacks in Southern Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah’s activities despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

The truce ended months of cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group.

Lebanese authorities have reported nearly 3,000 Israeli violations of the truce including the deaths of at least 231 people and injuries to more than 500 since the agreement was signed.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from Southern Lebanon by January 26, but the deadline was extended to February 18 after Tel Aviv refused to comply.

Israel still maintains a military presence at five border outposts.

“We cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,” Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura.

The Beirut area, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September last year.

Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 – a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the occupied territories, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 250 others captive.

The Hamas attack was immediately followed by Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The Israeli genocidal campaign was accompanied by a brutal blockade on entry of food and medical aid, bringing the enclave’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of starvation.

Israel’s simultaneous attack on Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people, including much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, and displacing nearly 1.4 million, according to official data. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the war in November.

However, since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people and wounded 600 others since November, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem said in his video address.

“We will not be a part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalisation,” he added, in an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying his government was “interested” in such a move.

Qassem stated Hezbollah’s weapons would not be on the negotiating table unless Israel “withdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins”.

“Only then,” he noted, “will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy”.

On Saturday, Israeli drones carried out four strikes on southern Lebanese towns, killing one person and wounding several others. Most of the Israeli attacks have targeted areas near the border, but Israeli warplanes have also hit residential neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern districts, causing panic and mass evacuations.

Qassem’s speech came as the US envoy to Turkiye and Syria, Tom Barrack, was expected in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese officials say the US has demanded that Hezbollah disarm by the end of the year. Israel has warned it will continue striking Lebanon until the group is disarmed.

But Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly called on the US and its allies to rein in Israel’s attacks, noting that disarming Hezbollah is a “sensitive, delicate issue”.