In first since ceasefire, Lebanese army says it foiled rocket attack on Israel

The Lebanese army announced Sunday that it foiled a planned rocket attack from Lebanon at Israel for the first time since a November ceasefire cut short a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to a statement by the Lebanese Armed Forces, forces raided an apartment in the area of the city of Sidon, confiscated rockets and launch pads, and arrested several individuals.

The LAF said in a statement that the arrests are linked to others that were announced last week. It added that as military intelligence was probing that case, investigators got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.

The Lebanese army said troops raided an apartment near the southern port city, confiscated some of the rockets and the launchers and “detained several people who were involved in the operation.” It said the detainees were referred to judicial authorities.

Last Wednesday, the Lebanese army said in a statement that authorities detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks on Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon.

The Hezbollah terror group denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.

إلحاقًا بالبيان الصادر بتاريخ ١٦ / ٤ / ٢٠٢٥ والمتعلق بتوقيف عدد من أفراد المجموعة التي نفذت عمليتَي إطلاق صواريخ في جنوب لبنان، ونتيجة المتابعة والرصد والتحقيقات المستمرة، توافرت لدى مديرية المخابرات معلومات عن التحضير لعملية جديدة لإطلاق صواريخ باتجاه الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة.… pic.twitter.com/sICfmkBQwy

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) April 20, 2025

Separately, Lebanon’s health ministry said Sunday that an “Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle in Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad,” located inland between the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre, killed one person and wounded two others.

The Israel Defense Forces later confirmed the strike, saying it targeted Hussein Ali Nasr, the deputy chief of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is responsible for smuggling weapons into Lebanon.

As part of his role, the IDF said Nasr worked, alongside Iran, to smuggle weapons and funds into Lebanon to restore Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Some of the weapons and cash were smuggled via the Beirut airport, the military claimed.

“Nasr was in contact with workers at the airport who were secretly operating for Hezbollah and assisting with smuggling operations. In addition, he advanced and led weapons procurement deals with smugglers along the Syria-Lebanon border. Moreover, as part of his role, he oversaw the organization’s force build-up process,” the IDF said.

The military said the strike comes as part of efforts against Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to Lebanon, via Syria and Iraq.

Other strikes against the unit amid the war have included the assassinations of its head, Muhammad Ja’far Qassir, in Beirut in early October 2024, and his replacement, Ali Hassan Gharib, in Damascus several weeks later, alongside other top commanders.

Lebanon’s health ministry also reported a separate “Israeli enemy” strike “on a house in Houla,” near the border, killing one person.

The IDF confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a Hezbollah engineering expert. The operative was responsible for Hezbollah’s engineering activities in Odaisseh, according to the military.

Israeli fighter jets also carried out a wave of airstrikes in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon in the afternoon, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and other infrastructure used by the terror group, the IDF said.

Israel has continued to conduct regular strikes in Lebanon following the November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

#Lebanonnews: An initial toll from #Lebanon's Health Ministry confirmed that an #Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in the southern town of Kaouthariyet El Saiyad killed one person.https://t.co/43o1nVUIvz

— LBCI Lebanon English (@LBCI_News_EN) April 20, 2025

Facing growing calls to initiate the disarming of Hezbollah, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Sunday that such a move required the right circumstances, warning that forcing the issue could lead the country to ruin.

Allowing only the government to bear arms — and removing them from Hezbollah — is “a sensitive, delicate issue that is fundamental to preserving civil peace” and requires due “consideration and responsibility,” Aoun told reporters.

“We will implement” a state monopoly on bearing arms “but we have to wait for the circumstances” to allow this, he said, adding that “nobody is speaking to me about timing or pressure.”

“Any controversial domestic issue in Lebanon can only be approached through conciliatory, non-confrontational dialogue and communication. If not, we will lead Lebanon to ruin,” he said.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group “will not let anyone disarm” it, as Washington pressed Beirut to compel the Iran-backed movement to hand over its weapons.

Hezbollah opened fire on Israel with rockets and drones on October 8, 2023, after its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip launched its invasion and onslaught in southern Israel a day earlier, killing 1,200 people.

The daily attacks on Israel from Lebanon continued for almost a year, displacing some 60,000 residents of northern Israel and killing dozens of Israeli civilians, before the daily skirmishes escalated into open war for about two months, until the November agreement largely stopped the fighting.

Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, although it continues to hold five positions that it deems “strategic” and has continued, as the deal permits it to do, to strike Hezbollah targets it sees as imminent threats.

Lebanon’s army has been deploying in the south near the border as Israeli forces have withdrawn.

Israel says strikes in Lebanon since the November ceasefire target Hezbollah and other terror operatives violating the agreement, and aim to prevent the terror group from rebuilding its infrastructure in the south of the country. According to the Israeli military, since the ceasefire began, more than 120 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in strikes.