Beirut: Israel has carried out a series of airstrikes, targeting several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, media reported.
Israeli warplanes launched multiple raids on the heights of the eastern Mountain Range and an area in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding Israel also launched several airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon at around 10:35 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Prior to the airstrikes, Israeli aircraft conducted intensive low-altitude flights over the town of Rashaya and western Bekaa, while flying at higher altitudes over the city of Hermel and northern Bekaa in eastern Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.
Israeli jets were also seen over Beirut and its suburbs, according to the report.
These developments come despite the ongoing ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military, which took effect on November 27, 2024, and was meant to end more than a year of cross-border clashes triggered by the war in Gaza.
The agreement stipulated that Israel would withdraw from Lebanese territory within 60 days, while the Lebanese army would be deployed along the Lebanese-Israeli border and in the southern region, ensuring that no weapons or militants remained south of the Litani River.
However, Lebanon’s caretaker government announced on January 27 that it had agreed to extend the ceasefire until February 18, after the initial 60-day period expired without an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Despite the truce, the Israeli military has continued to launch occasional strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are aimed at eliminating “threats” posed by Hezbollah.
Tensions have escalated as the Israeli army remained in the Lebanese territory after a 60-day deadline for its withdrawal from southern Lebanon that passed on January 26 under a ceasefire agreement.
The US, however, said that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to an extension of the deadline until February 18.
At least 26 people have been killed and 221 injured by Israeli gunfire since January 26 as residents try to return to their villages in southern Lebanon, according to local health authorities.
The fragile cease-fire has been in place since November 27, ending a period of mutual shelling between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, that began October 8, 2023, and escalated into a full-scale conflict on September 23 last year.
Data from the Lebanese Health Ministry indicates that since Israel’s onslaught against Lebanon began in 2023, at least 4,080 people have been killed, including women, children, and health workers, while 16,753 have been injured.
(IANS)
