IDF: Troops discover large cache of Hezbollah weapons in south Lebanon
A month before Israeli forces are slated to fully withdraw, French foreign and defense minister visit Lebanon for talks on ceasefire implementation
With a month to go until Israeli forces are slated to fully pull out of southern Lebanon, IDF troops with the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade located and destroyed a large cache of Hezbollah weapons in the Wadi Saluki area, the military said Tuesday.
The IDF said the forces found rocket launchers, missiles, explosives and other weapons at the depot hidden in the Wadi Saluki area, just across the border from the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona.
During another raid on nearby buildings, the soldiers found numerous other weapons, including assault rifles, grenades, missiles, mines, explosive devices and other military gear, the military said.
The weapons were confiscated and the sites were demolished, the IDF added.
The IDF is still deployed to southern Lebanon under the terms of a ceasefire agreement signed last month, and it has until late January to withdraw, in accordance with the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces to the area.
The agreement stipulates that the IDF be replaced in southern Lebanon by the official Lebanese army and international peacekeeping force UNIFIL, while Hezbollah is to retreat north of the Litani, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.
Hezbollah and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. On Saturday, a Hezbollah mouthpiece opined that the “resistance” should resume hostilities with Israel over its attacks on southern Lebanon.
Israel has denied the attacks violate the agreement, saying they targeted Hezbollah fighters who themselves violated it by operating south of the Litani. The IDF says it has killed at least 44 operatives since the ceasefire came into effect.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Sunday that the military had won a “clear victory” over Hezbollah, but that “true victory” would be achieved only when Israel’s north is revived.
Meanwhile, France sent its foreign minister and defense minister to Lebanon for discussions over implementing the ceasefire deal, which should come into full effect in late January.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu met on Monday with Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun, and on Tuesday were due to visit UN peacekeepers near the Israeli border.
A Lebanese army statement on social media said that Aoun and the visiting ministers discussed “ways to strengthen cooperation relations between the armies of the two countries and to continue support for the army in light of current circumstances.”
Aoun, who is being touted as a possible candidate for Lebanon’s president, has been tasked with deploying troops in the south of the country since the ceasefire came into effect.
Lecornu said on X that he is also due to meet with a French general representing Paris “within the ceasefire monitoring mechanism.”
“Our armies are, and will remain, committed to the stability of Lebanon and the region,” he added.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
