Israel strikes Hezbollah weapons depots, military sites in Lebanon

Military says weaponry and military sites violated US-brokered 2024 ceasefire deal

By Emanuel Fabian

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19 February 2026, 1:35 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

A Hezbollah flag flutters above the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (Joseph EID / AFP)

A wave of Israeli airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon early Thursday morning targeted Hezbollah weapon depots, missile launchers, and other military sites, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to Lebanese media, the strikes took place in the Jabal al-Reihan region and near the village of Yaroun.

“Among the targets struck were weapons storage facilities, missile launchers, and military sites utilized by the Hezbollah terror organization to advance terror attacks against the IDF and the State of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.

The military said the existence of the Hezbollah sites was a violation of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.

“The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat against the State of Israel,” the army added.

It was the latest in the military campaign against the terror group. Airstrikes have become routine as the military says Hezbollah continues to attempt to rebuild its capabilities in violation of the US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024.

The truce came after over a year of war along the border, including two months of open conflict that saw the IDF carry out a ground operation in Lebanon’s south in a bid to enable the safe return of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the terror group’s near-daily attacks.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

The Israeli offensive launched in September 2024 devastated the terror group’s leadership and significantly curtailed its military capabilities.

Flames rise from a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Ain Qana, southern Lebanon, February 2, 2026. (AP/Mohammed Zaatari)

The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese armed forces. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border.

Since the ceasefire, the IDF said it has killed over 400 Hezbollah operatives and members of allied terror groups in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes, Hezbollah is under internal and international pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it. It has so far refused.