The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday carried out an hours-long wave of airstrikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization across Southern Lebanon.
“The IDF, led by Northern Command and carried out with the Air Force, struck terror infrastructure and several weapons storage facilities of the ‘Radwan Force’ unit in Southern Lebanon,” according to a statement.
Hezbollah “continues efforts to rehabilitate terrorist infrastructure in Southern Lebanon and is concentrating on rebuilding the unit’s capabilities with the aim of harming the State of Israel,” it said.
The Radwan Force is the Hezbollah unit tasked with infiltrating Israeli territory, seizing areas along the northern border and abducting hostages as part of the group’s “Conquer the Galilee” plan.
The military noted that before the strikes, measures were taken to reduce harm to civilians, including evacuation orders, the use of precision munitions, aerial observation and additional steps.
The IDF struck weapons storage facilities “located in the middle of a civilian population,” the army said, calling it “another example of Hezbollah’s cynical use of Lebanese civilians as human shields.
“The presence of the terror infrastructure and weapons that were struck constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and endangered the area’s residents,” added the IDF.
The announcement of the attacks came shortly after the IDF ordered the evacuation of Lebanese noncombatants from buildings in three southern towns: Ayta al-Jabal, Taybeh and Tayr Debba.
“The IDF will attack military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization throughout Southern Lebanon, in response to its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area,” said Col. Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
“For your safety,” Adraee added, “you are required to evacuate those buildings and the adjacent buildings immediately and distance yourselves from them by no less than 500 meters [1,640 feet].”
Earlier on Thursday, the IDF struck a Hezbollah facility used to produce equipment for rebuilding its terror infrastructure in Southern Lebanon.
“A short while ago, under the direction of the Northern Command and using the Air Force, the IDF struck terrorists who were operating within a terrorist infrastructure of the Hezbollah terror group’s construction unit in the Tyre area of Southern Lebanon,” the army statement said.
The targeted facility was used to “produce equipment that Hezbollah terrorists employed to restore terror infrastructures that had been attacked and destroyed during the war,” according to the IDF.
The military noted that Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its infrastructure in Southern Lebanon violate the Nov. 26, 2024, ceasefire understandings between Jerusalem and Beirut. It vowed to “continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel’s territory.”
Channel 12 News reported earlier on Thursday morning that Israel was preparing for the possibility of another round of fighting with the Iranian-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon.
Senior Israeli officials told the broadcaster that battle plans were already drawn up, with the goal of further weakening Hezbollah and bringing about a stronger truce agreement with the Lebanese government.
Israel’s Security Cabinet was scheduled to meet in Jerusalem at 6 p.m. on Thursday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, Channel 12 reported.
According to the report, the Trump administration informed Beirut that while Washington prefers to disarm Hezbollah through diplomatic means, it would back Israel’s plans if the terrorists refuse to engage in good faith.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has rejected demands to disarm in accordance with the truce, warning in July that the terrorist group was “rebuilding, recovering and ready now” to take on the IDF.
Qassem on Oct. 27 told Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with the terrorist organization, that it had a “legitimate right” to possess arms.
Meanwhile Hezbollah, in an open letter to Lebanon’s president, parliament speaker and prime minister on Thursday, rejected talks with Israel.
“The negotiations do not serve a national interest, and pose existential risks that threaten the Lebanese entity and its sovereignty,” the Iran-backed terrorist army warned in the letter.
On Nov. 26, 2024, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terrorists began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Since the truce, the IDF has conducted frequent raids to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding infrastructure across Lebanon in violation of the truce.
U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Saturday, said that the Iranian-backed terrorists still have between 15,000 and 20,000 missiles and rockets.
The envoy also told the panel discussion that Jerusalem has intelligence that Hezbollah continues attempts to rearm, which is why Israel cannot withdraw from the points near the border it took during the fighting.
“Israel’s point of view is … that Hezbollah is actually rebuilding all the way along the Bekaa [Valley],” Barrack emphasized in his comments.
In his view, it is “not reasonable to tell Lebanon: Forcibly disarm one of your political parties,” Barrack said of Beirut’s obligation to disarm the U.S.-designated terror group as required under the ceasefire deal and U.N. Security Council resolutions banning its terrorist activities on the southern border.
According to the envoy, Washington is instead seeking to incentivize the terrorist organization to “not utilize those rockets,” including through a peace agreement with Jerusalem. The Jewish state, he noted, has been “ready to make border and boundary agreements” with its neighbors.
Israel, said Barrack, “owes America a favor. On June 21, when President Trump sent those B2 bombers in [to attack Iran’s nuke sites], he did something for Israel that was an incredible reshaping of the region,” the ambassador said of the Jewish state’s willingness to engage in talks.
“The Lebanese leadership today is solid. President Aoun, [Prime Minister] Nawaf [Salam], even Speaker [Nabih] Berri. They’re trying, but they’re dinosaurs,” said Barrack.
“You have that conversation on the Blue Line [border dividing Lebanon from Israel]. You have the conversation with Syria, and in four months you could end all of this,” the American envoy said.
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