IDF strikes Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, citing ‘direct threat’ to Israel
Military says fighter jets hit terror group’s weapons storage sites and rocket launchers, which were operated in ‘blatant violation’ of agreements, as row emerges over withdrawal deadline
The Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon late Thursday night, saying it targeted Hezbollah terror group facilities.
The sites hit by fighter jets were used by Iran-backed Hezbollah to store weapons and launchers and had “posed a direct threat to the Israeli home front,” the military said.
The strikes took place near the towns of Yohmor, Deir Siryan, Yater, and Zibqin in southern Lebanon, according to local reports.
According to the IDF, Hezbollah activity at the sites “constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
The strikes came at the same time that pro-Hezbollah protesters — some hundreds, according to local reports cited in Hebrew media — clashed with the Lebanese army in Beirut, after aviation authorities reportedly informed an Iranian passenger flight that it would not be permitted to land in Lebanon, after the IDF said Iran was using such flights to smuggle cash to Hezbollah.
They also came amid clashing statements about the IDF’s future in southern Lebanon.
חיל האוויר בסדרת תקיפות בלבנון, באזור הליטני נגד משגרים ואמל"ח.
חשוב להזכיר: כל תקיפה כזו – בהכרח מעדכנת על עוד כישלון (לפחות אחד) של צבא לבנון בשטח.
אם 70 יום לתוך הפסקת האש הם לא מצליחים להחרים משגר – מה יהיה כשיחידות עילית של חיזבאללה יבקשו לרדת לגדר? pic.twitter.com/2L2cgPEhnd
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) February 14, 2025
Israel said Thursday it would remain in five key points past the deadline for withdrawal stipulated by a November ceasefire agreement, and the US signaled support for the move. However, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – a Hezbollah ally — said that he and the country’s president and prime minister all opposed any lingering Israeli presence.
Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which was extended until February 18. Iran-backed Hezbollah was also meant to leave its positions in the south, near the Israeli border, over that period.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is entitled to act against immediate threats posed by Hezbollah but must forward complaints about longer-term threats to an oversight committee composed of representatives from the US, France, Lebanon, and the international observer force UNIFIL.
The conflict with Hezbollah — which escalated into an all-out war for some two months before the ceasefire agreement ended the major fighting — began on October 8, 2023, when the Iran-backed terror group started firing missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with fellow terror group Hamas, which had just invaded Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The conflict displaced tens of thousands of people in northern Israel.
