Israeli Army: Lebanese Government Responsible for What Is Happening
In the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon earlier today, Israeli Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a statement on X addressing reports of civilian casualties and property damage.
The airstrikes reportedly targeted a Hezbollah position said to be used for fire management and protection. However, Lebanese media claimed that a nearby civilian building was hit, resulting in injuries. Adraee denied these allegations, stating that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had not targeted any civilian infrastructure.
"According to the information available to us," he wrote, "the building was struck by a rocket-propelled munition that was stored inside the Hezbollah site and detonated as a result of the strike."
Adraee went on to condemn Hezbollah, accusing the group of endangering civilians by storing weapons near populated areas. 'The terrorist Hezbollah continues to store its aggressive rockets near residential buildings and the Lebanese population, putting them at risk,' he said. He further asserted that Hezbollah's refusal to hand over its arsenal to the Lebanese state constitutes a persistent threat to residents in southern Lebanon.
In his statement, Adraee also placed blame on the Lebanese government, holding it responsible for the current situation. 'The Lebanese government bears responsibility for what is happening on its territory due to its failure to confiscate Hezbollah's heavy weapons and rocket stockpiles,' he stated.
The exchange adds to growing tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border, amid escalating confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah in recent weeks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
26 minutes ago
- Ya Libnan
Israel strikes Lebanon in one of biggest attacks since November ceasefire
One person died and 21 others were injured, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Israel said it was targeting an underground Hezbollah site. By Rachel Chason , Suzan Haidamous , Mohamad El Chamaa and Lior Soroka BEIRUT — Israel pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. Video showed massive plumes of gray smoke rising above a hilltop, and Lebanon's official National News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Nabatieh. The Washington Post was unable to immediately verify who or what struck the residential building in Nabatieh; neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Lebanon's government responded to requests for comment. Lebanon's Health Ministry said one person was killed and 21 were injured during the strikes. The National News Agency reported there were more than 20 hits in under 15 minutes. The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli air force fighter jets targeted a 'significant underground project' used by Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon. The site was 'completely taken out of use' following the strikes, the IDF said. Beaufort Ridge is about five miles from Nabatieh. In a separate Arabic-language statement , spokesman Avichay Adraee said the IDF did not target a civilian building. Instead, he said, a rocket, stored by Hezbollah inside the building, 'was launched and hit the civilian building' as a result of Israel's strike. Adraee accused Hezbollah of endangering civilians by not giving up its arsenal to the Lebanese government, saying he expected the Lebanese military to confiscateHezbollah's weapons. Lebanon's government, which has pledged to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, condemned the attacks, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying they represented 'a blatant violation of national sovereignty … and pose a threat to the stability we are keen to preserve.' Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel 'continues to flout regional and international resolutions' and called on the international community to intervene. The Trump administration argues a ceasefire between Israel and Iran could help secure peace on Israel's other fronts , including Gaza, as well as lead to normalization agreements with some of Israel's Arab neighbors. But in southern Lebanon, even since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire seven months ago, Israeli strikes have remained a near-daily occurrence, analysts say. In its Friday statement, Israel said Hezbollah had been making 'rehabilitation attempts' in southern Lebanon; the November ceasefire deal required Lebanese forces to ensure that all Hezbollah infrastructure is removed from the area. Between Nov. 27 — the day after the deal was announced — and June 9, 172 Lebanese deaths and 409 injuries have been reported as a result of Israeli attacks, said Hussein Chaabane, a Beirut-based investigative journalist with Legal Agenda who has been tracking the strikes. Chaabane's toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Despite a mid-February deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw, the IDF has remained in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon close to the border. And entire areas in the south have become 'unofficial buffer zones,' where residents who dare to travel face sniper fire and drone strikes by the IDF, Chaabane said. He said the strikes on Friday were significant — and caused fear in the surrounding community — because of the size of the explosions. 'What is happening is more than just the ceasefire being violated,' Chaabane said. 'It is the transformation of the south of Lebanon. … It has become a de facto security strip.' The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Chaabane's report. Hassan Wazni, the director of Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital, said the strikes were so strong that they shook the ground, reminding him of the period of heavy strikes last year David Wood, a Lebanon analyst with the International Crisis Group, said that while some people in other parts of the country feel the war has ended, 'that has never been the case in southern Lebanon.' 'There is a feeling that the ceasefire doesn't protect them, that Israel is doing whatever it pleases in a military sense, and that the United States — which is the chair of the monitoring committee — is allowing them to do so,' he said. He referred to a committee including representatives from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations that is charged with monitoring violations of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Wood added that the longer the strikes continue and civilians are killed, the more frustration in southern Lebanon could grow, including with the new government for failing to protect its residents. 'The longer this goes on and the state can't protect them,' he warned, 'the more likely people are to turn to Hezbollah and groups like it that could emerge.' WASHINGTON POST
Nahar Net
5 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Hezbollah missile or Israeli strike?
by Naharnet Newsdesk 4 hours Israel said Friday it didn't bomb any residential building in Nabatieh after a woman was killed and 20 other people were wounded as Israel's air force carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking the city of Nabatieh. Shortly afterward, the apartment building was hit in the nearby city of Nabatieh, resulting in the death of a woman. Twenty other people were wounded. Israel denied the strike on the building. It said its fighter jets struck a site used by Hezbollah to manage its fire and defense array in the area and that the projectile that hit the building had flown from a nearby Hezbollah depot targeted by an Israeli strike. The Israeli army said it identified rehabilitation attempts by Hezbollah beforehand and struck infrastructure sites in the area. Videos circulated Friday on social media, showing missiles flying from an area hit by an Israeli strike.
Nahar Net
6 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Argentina to try Iranians and Lebanese in absentia over 1994 bombing
by Naharnet Newsdesk 27 June 2025, 10:04 An Argentine judge on Thursday ordered that the seven Iranians and three Lebanese citizens accused of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires face trial in absentia for the first time in the long-running case plagued by setbacks and controversy. For years Argentine courts have ordered that the suspects — Iranian former officials and Lebanese nationals — be apprehended and brought before a judge because Argentina never allowed trials in absentia. Past efforts to encourage foreign governments to arrest the suspects, including an influential advisor to Iran's supreme leader, on the basis of Interpol red alerts never gained traction. But right-wing President Javier Milei, a loyal ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fierce critic of Iran who studies the Torah with a rabbi despite being born Catholic, pushed a bill through Congress earlier this year that authorizes trials in absentia for fugitives that have long sought to evade justice — allowing Argentina to put the defendants on trial for the first time. On Thursday, Judge Daniel Rafecas approved the trial in absentia following a request from the special prosecutor's office responsible for investigating the 1994 attack, the deadliest in the South American country's history, which killed 85 people two years after a separate bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 22 people. Rafecas described the trial as the only way to avoid impunity now more than 30 years after the bombing. "Trial in absentia, however limited, remains a tool that allows us, at the very least, to attempt to uncover the truth, reconstruct what happened, and, above all, give those representing the victims a place to express themselves publicly in this process," he wrote in his ruling. Last year, a high court in Argentina ruled that the Iranian government had masterminded the 1994 attack on the center, known by its acronym AMIA, and that members of Lebanon's Hezbollah had carried it out. Iran has long denied any involvement in the attacks. Among the seven Iranians who are subject to Argentine arrest warrants are former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, former commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Mohsen Rezaei and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who now advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The three Lebanese citizens include Salman Raouf Salman, who allegedly coordinated the attack, and fellow Hezbollah members Abdallah Salman and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar. All have been declared in contempt of court, in some cases decades ago. Advancing the AMIA case has been a key goal of Milei, who concluded a trip to Jerusalem on June 12, the night before Israel launched its unprecedented air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership. Milei escalated his rhetoric against Iran and in support of Israel during the 12-day war between the regional foes, calling the Islamic republic "an enemy of Argentina" and praising Israel as "saving Western civilization."
