BEIRUT: Eight Israeli raids targeted the outskirts of Hermel in Lebanon’s western mountain range, and the barren areas of Laboueh on Monday. According to Lebanese sources, the strikes wounded several individuals who were then transported away by ambulance teams.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed that the raids had targeted “Hezbollah objectives, including camps for the Radwan Force,” and noted that Hezbollah members were observed inside the sites, which were also used to store weapons.
Adraee claimed that Hezbollah was using the camps for the “training and preparing (of) terrorists” to attack Israel and its military forces.
He added: “During training in the camps they conducted shooting exercises and preparation for the use of combat means of various kinds.”
Adraee emphasized that “the storage of combat means and the conduct of military training against the state of Israel is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitutes a threat to the state of Israel, and the Israeli army will continue to work to remove any threat to the state of Israel.”
According to a Lebanese security source, the raids targeted “the areas of Brissa, Nabi Musa, Kharayeb and Mughar, in addition to the area near the town of Zeghrine. The strikes led to successive explosions in the area amid extensive field mobilization by the party.”
Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the US “to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupies in southern Lebanon” during a meeting in Beirut on Saturday with Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the US’ Central Command. Aoun added that the move was essential for the Lebanese army to complete its deployment up to the international border.
Aoun asked Cooper “for the US to continue supporting the Lebanese army and to provide it with the necessary equipment and vehicles to enable it to carry out the tasks entrusted to it across Lebanese territory.”
He also called for the activation of the Monitoring Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities — the Mechanism — to ensure full implementation of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Nov. 27, 2024.
He added that Lebanon demanded “the cessation of Israeli aggression against Lebanon, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the border sites it occupies, and the return of the prisoners.”
Aoun said: “These steps help in implementing the decision taken by the Lebanese government with regard to confining weapons exclusively to the Lebanese Armed Forces, especially since the Cabinet last Friday welcomed the military plan set by the Army Command for this purpose.”
The Israeli escalation in northern Bekaa came less than 24 hours after a meeting in Naqoura on Sunday to reactivate the Quintet Committee overseeing the ceasefire implementation mechanism.
The committee, which had not met for over two months, convened with the attendance of Cooper and US envoy Morgan Ortagus.
During the session the Lebanese army’s representative presented a report on its recent activities south of the Litani River, outlining both the progress made and the plan for the coming months to enforce the state monopoly on weapons across Lebanese territory.
The army confirmed it had completed a significant portion of its work in the region and had dismantled mines, in cooperation with the committee.
Leaked information from the meeting revealed that the US delegation “welcomed the Lebanese presentation and considered the plan positive on the condition of implementation.”
The delegation also reaffirmed “its commitment to support the Lebanese army logistically and politically to facilitate its mission of confining weapons, especially since the first phase includes a time frame extending to three months to fully withdraw weapons from the sector south of the Litani River and to continue preventing the transfer of military equipment into this area.”
Lebanon was also informed about the upcoming replacement of US Maj. Gen. Michael J. Leeney, the current chair of the committee, by an American Marine Corps general who attended the meeting.
The Israeli representative expressed support for the Lebanese army’s plan for the first phase.
The outline of the army’s plan specifies a three-month period, extending until the end of the year, in which weapon transfers will be prohibited in all areas. The objective is to entirely clear weapons from south of the Litani River.
Subsequent phases are to cover areas from north of the Litani to the Awali River, followed by further phases governed by on-the-ground conditions.
At the Cabinet session on Friday, the government welcomed the army’s proposal and tasked the army’s commander with providing a “monthly report on the course of implementation,” emphasizing zero tolerance in enforcing the state monopoly on weapons.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has reiterated its refusal to disarm. Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc member Ali Fayyad called on the government to retract its decision to confine weapons to the state and to give priority to an Israeli withdrawal from the sites it occupies, and the cessation of hostilities.
Fayyad said: “The Lebanese army will not grant the enemy, nor gamblers at home and abroad, an opportunity to collide with the resistance (Hezbollah), because it is the most keen on internal unity, the preservation of civil peace, and the most aware of the danger of Israeli practices aimed at obstructing the army’s deployment and the full restoration of national sovereignty.”
