Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon

Israel has carried out a large wave of air strikes in southern Lebanon, saying it was targeting positions of the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.

The attacks came after evacuation warnings were issued for several locations. There has been no immediate report of casualties.

Israel has carried out air strikes on people and places it says are linked to Hezbollah almost every day despite a deal that ended the war with the group in November.

The Lebanese prime minister called on the international community to urge Israel to stop what he described as intimidation and attacks, and to fulfil its ceasefire obligations.

Footage posted online showed huge plumes of smoke in Mais al-Jabal, one of the locations hit.

An Israeli military spokesman said the targets were infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and in response to the group’s attempts to re-establish activities in the area. He provided no evidence.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said its forces had attacked and raided Hezbollah weapons warehouses, and their presence “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

He earlier had warned residents to evacuate buildings in the villages of Mais al-Jabal, Kfar Tibnit and Debbin, and later in two more villages.

Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said on X his country was committed to ceasing hostile actions, but asked: “Where is Israel’s commitment to these mechanisms?”

He called on the international community, especially the countries sponsoring the ceasefire, “to exert maximum pressure on Israel to immediately stop its aggressions”, to immediately withdraw from Lebanese territory and release prisoners.

The US and France-brokered ceasefire was agreed between the governments of Israel and Lebanon, not Hezbollah.

It states that Lebanon will “prevent Hezbollah and all other armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any operations against Israel”. Meanwhile, Israel will “not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, or other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon”.

The Lebanese government has tasked the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms, a decision which Hezbollah has said it will disregard.