After hitting Hezbollah targets, Israel slams truce monitoring mechanism
Israeli aircraft struck Hezbollah targets across Lebanon overnight after its warnings of the terror group’s ceasefire violations went unheeded, the Israel Defence Forces said on Monday morning.
An Israeli Air Force jet takes off for an airstrike in Lebanon on Sept. 19, 2024. Photo by IDF Spokesperson/TPS-IL
“Prior to the strike, the threat posed by the targets to the Israeli home front and IDF troops was presented to the monitoring mechanism of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and the threats were not addressed,” the IDF said.
“Among the targets struck were a rocket launcher site, a military site, and routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah,” the military added.
Under the terms of a two-month ceasefire that went into effect on November 27, Hezbollah is supposed to withdraw its armed presence from areas of southern Lebanon south of the Litani River. Israeli forces will also withdraw from southern Lebanon in stages. The Lebanese Armed Forces is to be deployed in southern Lebanon including along the 120 km border with Israel, as will monitors from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
The ceasefire gives Israel the ability to respond to Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire, and Israeli forces have frequently uncovered weapons and terror infrastructure south of the Litani River.
The strikes also come on the heels of the Lebanese parliament electing the Western-backed Joseph Aoun as president of the country.
But a senior Israeli political source told The Press Service of Israel ahead of the election, “Until January 27th, there is still an eternity in terms of the region. The decision to completely withdraw from Lebanon could be made even 24 hours before the end of the 60 days, and there is still a long process of electing a president in Lebanon, and more developments are expected in Syria. We are keeping the extension of the [Israel Defense Force’s] stay as an option for all intents and purposes.”
After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. More than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
