BEIRUT (AP) — Israel launched a series of airstrikes in southern and northeastern Lebanon on Thursday as a deadline loomed to disarm militant Hezbollah along the Lebanese border.
The attack came a day before a meeting of the committee charged with overseeing implementation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago. Friday’s meeting will be the second for the mechanism after Israel and Lebanon appointed civilian members to the committee, which previously consisted only of the military. The group also includes U.S., French and U.N. peacekeepers deployed on the border.
In Paris, Lebanese army chief Gen. Rodolfo Haikal held a meeting with U.S., French and Saudi officials to discuss how to assist the Lebanese army in its mission to strengthen its presence along the border. Heikal began his meeting with French military officials.
French Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Fabien Manton said in a post on Thursday that he discussed the strategic environment and security challenges in Lebanon and the region with Heikal.
Mandon said France’s assistance to the Lebanese army is based on a common goal, which is to “contribute to the maintenance of stability and lasting peace while respecting Lebanese sovereignty.”
The French foreign ministry said political parties meeting in Paris on Thursday agreed to hold a conference in February aimed at supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The ministry added that the talks focused on how to demonstrate progress in disarmament of Hezbollah, with French, Saudi and US officials meeting the head of the Lebanese army to develop a road map for disarmament mechanisms.
A Lebanese military statement quoted Heikal as saying the Lebanese military was committed to implementing the first phase of the ceasefire near the border with Israel “within the stipulated time.”
The Lebanese government says the army should clear Hezbollah forces from the entire border area south of the Litani River by the end of this year.
The Israeli military said the attacks hit Hezbollah infrastructure and a launch site at a military base used by the group to conduct training and courses for its fighters. The Israeli military also said it attacked several Hezbollah military buildings that housed weapons and where Hezbollah members had recently operated.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), intensive air strikes extended from the Rihan Mountain area in the south to the Hummel area in the northeast on the border with Syria.
Shortly afterwards, four people were injured when a drone struck a car near the southern town of Taibe, the state news agency reported.
“This is Israel’s message to the Paris conference to support the Lebanese army,” Knesset Speaker Nabi Berry said of the attack.
“The strip of fire from the Israeli air strikes commemorates the meeting of the Mechanism tomorrow (Friday),” Berri told a parliamentary session in Beirut.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel and Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. In September 2024, Israel launched a large-scale bombing campaign against Lebanon, severely weakening Hezbollah, and then launched a ground invasion.
Since then, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes, mostly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing 127 civilians, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The United States has stepped up pressure on Lebanon in the past few weeks to work harder to disarm Hezbollah.
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Associated Press writer Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.
