JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it had carried out another series of strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday, exactly a year into the ceasefire with the militant group.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli aircraft launched “a series of raids on Al-Mahmoudiya and Al-Jarmak in the Jezzine area.”
The Israeli military “struck and dismantled Hezbollah terror infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon,” it said in a statement.
It also said it had hit “several launch sites where Hezbollah weapons were stored,” “military posts” used by the Iran-backed group and a storage facility containing weapons.
Israel’s military “will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel,” it said.
The November 27, 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two sides.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
According to the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.
Under a government-approved plan, the Lebanese army is to dismantle Hezbollah military infrastructure south of the river by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.
The United States is increasing its pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.
The Lebanese military has said it is carrying out its plan to disarm the group, but the US and Israel have accused Lebanese authorities of stalling the process.
An Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday killed Haitham Ali Tabatabai — the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the ceasefire entered into force.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday warned there would be “no calm” in Lebanon if Israel’s security was not guaranteed.
Israel launches new strikes in south Lebanon on ceasefire anniversary
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Israel launches new strikes in south Lebanon on ceasefire anniversary
- NNA said Israeli aircraft launched “a series of raids on Al-Mahmoudiya and Al-Jarmak in the Jezzine area“
- The Israeli military “struck and dismantled Hezbollah terror infrastructure in several areas”
Israel gives legal status to 19 West Bank settlements
- Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country’s security and the economy, Israeli media reported.
The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday.
Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said.
The move to legalize the settlements in the West Bank — territory Palestinians seek for a future state — was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other.
The 19 settlements include two that Israel withdrew from in 2005, evacuated under a disengagement plan overseen by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that focused mainly on Gaza.
Under the plan, which was opposed by the settler movement at the time, all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were ordered to be evacuated. Most settlements in the West Bank were unaffected.
In a statement on Friday, Palestinian Authority Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban called the announcement another step to erase Palestinian geography.
Sha’ban, of the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the decision raised serious alarms over the future of the West Bank.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the Israeli-occupied West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian nation existing alongside Israel.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians reached their highest recorded levels in October with settlers carrying out at least 264 attacks, according to the UN.
