Israel escalates its attacks on Lebanon, bombs Hezbollah ‘explosives and precision missiles factories'
Israel
launched new strikes on
Lebanon
on Thursday on what it said were
Hezbollah
explosives factories, in the latest breach of a ceasefire.
Defene Minister Israel Katz said the targets included Hezbollah's 'biggest precision missile manufacturing site'. The army said it had hit weapons production and storage sites in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Lebanon's National News Agency said Israeli warplanes were flying low over the town of Hermel. It said the strikes also hit the areas of Mahmoudiyeh, Al Khardali and Jarmaq.
Israel's air force also attacked an eastern mountain range between the towns of Khreibeh and Brital, the agency said. Israel said Hezbollah had 'tried to rehabilitate the sites and capabilities, actions that constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon'.
'Among the targets struck were explosive manufacturing sites, which were used to develop Hezbollah's weaponry, as well as an underground site for the production and storage of strategic weapons,' the Israeli military said
Under the terms of a ceasefire deal agreed with Israel last November, Hezbollah was supposed to dismantle its infrastructure and withdraw its fighters in the border region in southern Lebanon.
Israel was obliged to withdraw from the five points of Lebanese territory it occupied but has failed to do so and continues to bomb the south regularly. Lebanon has accused Israel of breaching the deal thousands of times.
Lebanon's government is under pressure from the
US
to move ahead with
disarming Hezbollah
. Speaking on Thursday, President
Joseph Aoun
said there was a 'historic opportunity' to 'affirm the exclusivity of arms in the hands of the army and security forces'. He urged Hezbollah to disarm .
In his speech on Thursday he was quoted as saying : 'We have to choose between collapse and stability 'and warned again that Israel will use Hezbollah's arms as an excuse to continue its attacks against Lebanon.
He added that the country would seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the
army and security forces
.
President Aoun met in Baabda with U.S. Central Command chief Michael Kurilla and discussed with him the cooperation and ties between the Lebanese and U.S. armies
NATIONAL / AE/ Reuters
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