JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Thursday said it conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets shortly after issuing evacuation orders for the village of Sohmor in southern Lebanon.
“In response to Hezbollah’s repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings, the (Israeli military) is striking Hezbollah terror targets in several areas in Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
Earlier on Thursday, the army had warned residents of Sohmor to evacuate certain areas ahead of strikes against Hezbollah targets.
Shortly after the military announced having struck positions in Lebanon, its Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee warned of a second evacuation order, this time for the south Lebanon village of Machghara.
“The (Israeli military) will attack Hezbollah terrorist military infrastructure in the near future to address prohibited attempts to reconstruct its activities in the area,” Adraee said on X.
The orders come a week after the Lebanese military said it had completed disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River, the first phase of a nationwide plan, though Israel has called those efforts insufficient.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in response that the ceasefire “states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.”
Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire.
On Sunday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of violent Israeli strikes” on Jezzine, Mahmudiyeh, and Al-Dimasqiyeh, as well as “more than 10 strikes” on Al-Bureij, all in southern Lebanon.
Also on Thursday, a judicial official said in Beirut that four people accused of a kidnapping in Lebanon for Israel’s Mossad spy agency last month had been charged, after a retired security officer whose brother was linked to an Israeli airman’s disappearance went missing.
Israel has apprehended suspects in Lebanon before, and Mossad is accused of regularly attempting to contact Lebanese people to facilitate its operations, while Lebanon has arrested dozens of people on suspicion of collaborating with Israel over the years.
Lebanese authorities believe the agency known for espionage operations outside of Israel’s borders was behind the disappearance of retired security officer Ahmad Shukr last month.
Shukr, whose brother Hassan is suspected of involvement in the 1986 capture of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, disappeared in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon.
Authorities have arrested and charged one Lebanese man, and charged three more who remain at large.
The four were charged with “communicating with and working for Mossad within Lebanon in exchange for money, and carrying out the kidnapping of Ahmad Shukr,” a judicial official said
The three are “a Lebanese woman, a Lebanese French man, and a Syrian Swedish man,” the official said.
The Israeli airman Ron Arad, whose plane went down in southern Lebanon during the country’s civil war between 1975 and 1990, is now presumed dead, and his remains were never returned.
Hassan Shukr was killed in 1988 in a battle between Israeli forces and local fighters, including from Hezbollah, a source close to the family said last month.
