Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s east on Monday killed at least five people, after the Israeli military said it targeted positions belonging to the Hezbollah militant group.
Israel has continued to carry out regular air strikes in Lebanon despite a November truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities including two months of open war with the Iran-backed group.
Monday’s attacks came after Lebanon’s government said last week that its military would begin implementing a plan to disarm Hezbollah, without disclosing the plan’s details.
“The Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa and the outskirts of Hermel led to a preliminary toll of five dead and five others wounded,” the health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it had hit several “targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in the Bekaa Valley, including what it described as training compounds used by the group’s elite Radwan force.
The military said Hezbollah activities and weapons at the sites constituted a “blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency had reported at least seven strikes in the region.
In August, the Lebanese government ordered the military to draw up plans to disarm the once-dominant Hezbollah by the end of the year, under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes.
Beirut has characterised the disarmament push, which Hezbollah opposes, as part of the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
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© Agence France-Presse
