President Aoun has condemned the deadly IDF attacks that came amid international efforts to uphold a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Tuesday left at least two people dead, both presumably Hezbollah militants, with multiple other attacks reported over the past few days. An RT crew on the ground witnessed the mass destruction left in the wake of the latest Israeli aerial assaults on the neighboring country.
RT Lebanon bureau chief Steve Sweeney traveled to an industrial area of the town of Ghaziyeh, near the coastal city of Sidon, where an Israeli attack razed a multi-story building. He witnessed emergency crews working their way through the rubble at the site, with nearby buildings and shops also seriously damaged.
In two separate statements on its X account on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that its forces had struck “Hezbollah and Hamas terror infrastructure sites in several areas in Lebanon,” including arms depots and workshops.
Two alleged members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah were killed in the area of Kherbet Selem in another attack, according to the IDF.
During a press briefing on Monday, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, confirmed the deadly Israeli strike, as well as at least three other attacks in Southern Lebanon.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strikes, accusing West Jerusalem of attempting to thwart “all the efforts being made locally, regionally, and internationally” to ensure implementation of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Aoun pointed out that the strikes came shortly before a special committee monitoring the cessation of hostilities, which includes representatives of France, Israel, Lebanon, the US, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was due to convene on Wednesday.
Despite the US-brokered ceasefire having come into force, the Israeli military has repeatedly attacked Lebanon, killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The agreement ended more than a year of cross-border hostilities that began after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israeli territory in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Under the armistice, the Lebanese army is to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and take over the territories controlled by the group in the south of the country.