BEIRUT — Israel struck targets in Lebanon on Monday evening after vowing to retaliate for an attack by Hezbollah on a military post, with both sides accusing each other of violating last week’s ceasefire.
At least 11 people, including a security officer, were killed by Israeli strikes on two southern Lebanese villages, as it continues its assaults on the country since the ceasefire with Hezbollah came into effect last week.
The truce agreement was pushed to the brink on Monday as Israel’s air strikes killed two people, and Hezbollah launched an attack against an Israeli military position in retaliation.
Hezbollah said on Monday that it carried out a “preliminary defensive response” to the “repeated violations” of the ceasefire by attacking an Israeli military base in the hills of Kfar Chouba, a disputed area that Lebanon claims as its own.
Hezbollah said Israeli breaches of the truce that went into effect on Wednesday include deadly air raids across Lebanon, shooting at civilians in the south, and flying drones and jets in Lebanese airspace, including over the capital, Beirut.
The group said it launched its “warning” strike because “appeals by the relevant authorities to stop these violations did not succeed”.
However, the Hezbollah move did not appear to deter further Israeli assaults. Israel carried out multiple air strikes as a promised “harsh” response to the Hezbollah attack.
The renewed violence highlights the fragility of the ceasefire, which ended a devastating war that killed nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon and saw Hezbollah fire rockets daily at Israel.
Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s State Security agency said an Israeli rocket killed officer Mahdi Khreis in the southern district of Nabatieh, calling the incident a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire and a dangerous escalation.
Israeli bombardment in neighboring Marjayoun killed another person, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. A drone attack in the northeast of the country also injured a Lebanese soldier.
Although the ceasefire calls on all parties to hold their fire, Israel has been conducting near-daily assaults against Lebanon.
Lebanese media outlets have also reported that the Israeli military is using the truce to advance into new neighbourhoods in towns that it had entered during the war.
The truce, which was brokered by the United States and France, stipulates that the Israeli military must withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days and Hezbollah must move away from the border with Israel to the north of the Litani River.
During those two months, the Lebanese army would deploy to southern Lebanon to be the only armed force there.
Although Israel said its recent air strikes are meant to “enforce” the truce, the agreement prohibits attacks by all sides.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who was Lebanon’s chief negotiator in the ceasefire talks, stressed on Monday that Israel has violated the truce dozens of times, including by carrying out air raids and demolishing homes near the border.
“All these activities represent flagrant violations of the ceasefire agreement,” he said in a statement.
But Washington voiced confidence in the truce agreement on Monday. “Broadly speaking, it has been successful in stopping the fighting and getting us on a path where we are not seeing the daily loss of life that we had seen for two months prior,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
He said the US administration will work through a monitoring mechanism established by the agreement to address potential violations to the ceasefire.
Israel said there were no injuries in Hezbollah’s strikes on the Mount Dov area — a disputed region on the Israel-Lebanon border known internationally as Shebaa Farms.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Hezbollah attack as “a severe violation of the ceasefire”, vowing that Israel would “respond forcefully”.
When the ceasefire deal was first announced, Netanyahu said his country would not hesitate to strike if Hezbollah broke the terms. — Agencies