Israel strikes and Hezbollah mortar fire strain Lebanon ceasefire

Deadly Israeli air strikes and a mortar attack by Hezbollah have raised fears that the ceasefire in Lebanon could collapse.

Ten people were killed in southern Lebanon on Monday night, the health ministry said, after Israel carried out its biggest wave of air strikes since both sides agreed last week to end 13 months of conflict.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah fighters, launchers and infrastructure and urged Lebanese authorities to prevent what it called the group’s “hostile activity”.

Hezbollah had earlier fired two mortars at an Israeli army base in a disputed border area, saying they were a warning over what it saw as “repeated violations” by Israel. No casualties were reported.

The US, which along with France brokered the agreement and is monitoring compliance, said that “largely speaking” the ceasefire was holding despite the violence.

Under the deal, Hezbollah has been given 60 days to end its armed presence between the Blue Line – the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel – and the Litani river, about 30km (20 miles) to the north.

Israeli forces must withdraw from the area over the same period, and Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers are due to deploy there.

The conflict began on 8 October 2023, when Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.

Israel launched an intense air campaign and ground invasion against the Iran-backed group in late September, saying it wanted to ensure the safe return of 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the rocket attacks.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,960 people were killed during the hostilities, many of them civilians, and one million others were displaced from areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Israeli authorities say more than 80 Israeli soldiers and 47 civilians were killed.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes carried out strikes in at least 11 areas of southern Lebanon on Monday night.

They included the town of Haris, where the health ministry said six people were killed and two injured.

Another four people were killed and one was injured in the town of Tallousseh, according to the ministry.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it “struck Hezbollah terrorists, dozens of launchers, and terrorist infrastructure throughout Lebanon”.

It also said it hit the Hezbollah launcher in Berghoz that was used to fire two mortars towards the disputed Mount Dov/Shebaa Farms area in the occupied Golan Heights. The projectiles fell in an open area and nobody was hurt.

“Hezbollah’s launches tonight constitute a violation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” it warned.

“The State of Israel demands that the relevant parties in Lebanon fulfil their responsibilities and prevent Hezbollah’s hostile activity from within Lebanese territory.”

Israel‘s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was “determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire and will respond to every Hezbollah violation – minor and major”.

Hezbollah confirmed it carried out the mortar attack, saying it was a “defensive and warning response” to what it described as “repeated violations by the Israeli enemy of the ceasefire agreement”.

It said they included firing on civilians and conducting air strikes, as well breaches of Lebanese airspace by Israeli aircraft.

Earlier on Monday, Lebanese authorities said two people had been killed in Israeli strikes in the south of the country.

The health ministry said one person was killed in Marjaoun, where a motorcycle was reportedly targeted, while Lebanese State Security agency said a drone strike killed one of its personnel who was on duty in Nabatieh.

The Lebanese army also said a soldier was wounded when a drone targeted an army bulldozer near the north-eastern town of Hermel, in the Bekaa Valley.

The Israeli military said it had “operated in southern Lebanon in response to several acts by Hezbollah in Lebanon that posed a threat to Israeli civilians, in violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

“We are aware of reports regarding a soldier from the Lebanese military who was injured in one of the strikes and the incident is under investigation,” it added.

Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who helped negotiate the deal, said: “The aggressive actions carried out by Israeli occupation forces… represent a flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire.”

He added that Lebanese authorities had asked the committee formed to monitor enforcement of the ceasefire – comprising the US, France, Israel, Lebanon and the UN peacekeeping force (Unifl) – to declare “where it stands on ongoing violations… that have exceeded 54 breaches”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot meanwhile told his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, in a call that there was a need “for all sides to respect the ceasefire in Lebanon”, the foreign ministry said.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan also reported that US envoy Amos Hochstein had warned Israel over alleged violations.

In a video posted online, Saar said: “We hear claims that Israel is violating the ceasefire understandings in Lebanon. On the contrary!”

He warned that Israel would take action when armed Hezbollah fighters were identified south of the Litani river or they attempted to move weapons.

“Their presence south of the Litani river is the most basic violation of the understandings,” he said. “They must move north immediately.”

“I want to emphasize – Israel is committed to the successful implementation of the ceasefire, but we will not accept a return to the situation as it stood [before the conflict].”

US officials said the ceasefire had been broadly successful, but there was “a lot more work to do.”

“We’ve gone from dozens of [Israeli] strikes down to one a day maybe two a day,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “We’re going to keep trying and see what we can do to get it down to zero.”