Israel’s ongoing military strikes in Lebanon send a “clear message” to Hezbollah, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, accusing the Iran-backed Islamist group of seeking to rebuild its forces in violation of a ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli military said earlier on Tuesday it had begun striking targets belonging to Hezbollah’s elite unit, the Radwan Force, in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least six people were injured in the Israeli strikes.
“The Israel Defence Forces’ strikes currently underway in Lebanon are a clear message to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which is plotting to rebuild raid capabilities against Israel through the Radwan Force,” Katz said in a statement.
The strikes are also a message to the Lebanese government, which is responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement, he added.
There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.
Since Hamas’s cross-border attack from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in October 2023, Israel has carried out targeted strikes on Lebanese armed group Hezbollah as well as members of Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
Hamas’s deputy chief was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in early 2024, and other strikes hit Palestinian camps in northern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire deal in November 2024, ending more than a year of fighting that had spilled over from Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
The agreement calls for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon and says that all “unauthorized arms” and military infrastructure should be dismantled, starting with southern Lebanon.
People in Lebanon are burying their dead and trying to rebuild their lives while a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah holds, as CBC News hears divided opinions on the future of the weakened militant group.
The group, designated a terrorist entity by countries such as Canada, has been under pressure in recent months both within Lebanon and from Washington to completely relinquish its weapons.
Hezbollah’s difficulties have been compounded by seismic shifts in the regional power balance since Israel decimated its command and killed thousands of its fighters.
Hezbollah’s Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled in December, severing a key arms supply line from Iran, which is now emerging from its own bruising exchanges of strikes with Israel.
