IDF targets 2 Hezbollah operatives ‘rebuilding terror infrastructure’ in Lebanon
Trump envoy Morgan Ortagus, in Beirut, discusses disarming Hezbollah; chief of staff says Israel ‘showing initiative and offensive action’
The Israeli military on Sunday said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon, killing two, in an attack that targeted Hezbollah operatives who were trying to rebuild “terror infrastructure.”
Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed that two people were killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Zibqin in the country’s south, saying that it targeted people operating a bulldozer.
Israel’s military said the two were operating an engineering vehicle, and that they were “attempting to rebuild Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites.”
“We are continuing the campaign to strengthen the defenses, while showing initiative and offensive action,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said at an assessment Sunday on the Lebanon border.
Zamir met with the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, commander of the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division, Brig. Gen. Yuval Gez, and other commanders.
During the assessment, the military said, Zamir “emphasized his instructions that the IDF will not allow civilians to go on hikes over the international border, but only in Israeli territory and in places where hikes were held in the past, in accordance with the security situation.”
The latest strike came after visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed the situation in southern Lebanon with senior officials on Saturday.
A Lebanese official said Sunday that Ortagus discussed disarming Hezbollah without setting a deadline during her meetings in Beirut a day earlier.
The Lebanese official, speaking anonymously as they were not authorized to brief the media, said Ortagus discussed “intensifying and speeding up the work of the Lebanese army in dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, leading to restricting weapons to state hands, without setting a timetable.”
Ortagus did not make any official statements during the visit, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described their discussions with the US official as “positive,” noting they addressed the situation in south Lebanon and economic reforms.
On Friday, Israel killed a commander in the Hamas terror group in a pre-dawn raid in the south Lebanese port city of Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter.
A day earlier, Israel’s military said it carried out an airstrike targeting a Hezbollah member in south Lebanon.
On Tuesday, Israel struck south Beirut, killing a Hezbollah Palestinian liaison officer, in only the second strike on the capital since the November 27 ceasefire.
The strike’s target was Hassan Bdair, a member of Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Bdair was “Hezbollah’s deputy head for the Palestinian file” who was struck when he was “at home with his family.” Bdair’s son Ali was also killed, according to the group.
Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel unprovoked on a near-daily basis starting on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas led an invasion and onslaught in southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.
Under the November ceasefire, Hezbollah was obligated to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south, while the Lebanese army deployed to control the area.
Israel, meanwhile, was obligated to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon within 60 days. The withdrawal deadline was pushed off, with Lebanese and US approval, to February 18. Israel eventually withdrew from all of Lebanon except for five strategic posts along the border. While the White House has expressed support for the partial withdrawal, Beirut has called on Israel to leave Lebanon entirely.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.