Lebanon accuses Israel of 'flagrant' ceasefire violation

RTÉ News​

a day ago

Lebanese leaders have condemned Israeli attacks on Beirut overnight, labelling them as "flagrant" violations of a ceasefire between the two countries.
Israel, meanwhile, warned that it will keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed.
At least ten strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, a sprawling area known as Dahiyeh, in a wave of bombing that began about 90 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for four sites in the area.
It was the fourth time that Dahiyeh has been bombed since a US-brokered truce in November ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.
The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, one of the main religious festivals of the Muslim calendar.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the attack a "flagrant violation of an international accord... on the eve of a sacred religious festival".
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said that "there will be no calm in Beirut, and no order or stability in Lebanon, without security for the State of Israel".
"Agreements must be honoured and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force," Mr Katz said in a statement.
Under the ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Lebanon committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state itself.
Israel's military has continually targeted southern Lebanon and Israeli troops still occupy five hilltop positions in the south.
Israel has struck Beirut's suburbs three times since the truce was agreed, mostly in response to rocket launches from Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied involvement in those launches.
The latest war between longtime foes Israel and Hezbollah began in October 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israeli military positions in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas.
Israel escalated the following year in a heavy bombing campaign that killed thousands of people.
Then-Hamas secretary general Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack in September last year.
Israel has carried out repeated strikes on south Lebanon since the truce, but strikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs have been rare.
Lebanese leaders condemn attacks
Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but it has kept some in five areas it deems "strategic".
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south and removing Hezbollah infrastructure, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying that it had dismantled "more than 500 military positions and arms depots" in the area.
Following the strike, Lebanon's leaders accused Israel of a "flagrant" ceasefire violation by launching strikes ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday.
President Joseph Aoun voiced "firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression" and "flagrant violation of an international accord... on the eve of a sacred religious festival".
The prime minister too issued a statement condemning the strikes as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
One resident of southern Beirut described grabbing her children and fleeing her home after receiving an ominous warning before the strikes.
"I got a phone call from a stranger who said he was from the Israeli army," said the woman, Violette, who declined to give her last name.
Israel also issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese village of Ain Qana, around 20 kilometres from the border.
The Israeli military then launched a strike on a building there that it alleged was a Hezbollah base, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.