At least two killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon

The Israeli army claimed on Friday it struck “multiple” Hezbollah targets in the area near the border with Syria in the east, as tensions escalated following its extension of a recent deadline for removing its troops from the country.

The army claimed that the sites it targeted in the overnight attack include “underground infrastructure used to develop and manufacture weaponry” and sites on the border used to “smuggle weaponry into Lebanon”.

Later on Friday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said two people were killed and 10 wounded in the attack.

Hezbollah official Ibrahim Moussawi condemned the air raids, calling them “a very dangerous violation and a blatant and explicit aggression”, urging Lebanon to halt Israel’s continued attacks.

Israel was supposed to complete its army’s withdrawal from Lebanon by January 26 under a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah agreed last November. However, it refused to do so and the deadline was then extended to February 18.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south as Hezbollah pulls its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30km (20 miles) from the border.

Israel made clear it had no intention of meeting the deadline, claiming that the Lebanese army had not fulfilled its side of the bargain.

In the two months from November 27 to Monday, Israel killed at least 83 people in Lebanon, according to data obtained from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

At least 228 were also injured as displaced residents tried to return to villages where Israeli soldiers remain stationed.

Earlier this week, as thousands of people in Lebanon tried to return to their homes, Israeli forces killed at least 24 in southern Lebanon.

This week, Lebanese media reported repeated violations of the ceasefire deal by the Israeli military, including attacks on the town of Taybeh and village of Kfar Kila.

The most recent drone attack injured at least five people in the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selem on Wednesday, the Reuters news agency reported.

From the beginning of the conflict on October 8, 2023 to November 26, 2024, Israeli soldiers killed at least 3,961 people across Lebanon and injured more than 16,520.