Israeli air force bombs south Lebanon and border posts in Bekaa

Israel carried out airstrikes on Sunday evening in eastern and southern Lebanon, according to our local correspondents Sarah Abdallah and Mountasser Abdallah. The Israeli army stated it targeted Hezbollah by bombing smuggling routes along the border with Syria.

In the Bekaa, strikes were carried out on the border posts of Janta and Kasr in Hermel. In the South, the Israeli air force fired four missiles on valleys between Arabsalim, Houmine Fawqa, Deir al-Zahrani, and Roumine, in the district of Nabatieh.

No casualties have been reported so far, according to our information.

Smuggling routes and Hezbollah rocket launchers

The Israeli army explained that it struck targets it identified as threats to the cease-fire monitoring mechanism. "Among the targets hit were a rocket launch site, a military site and routes along the Syrian-Lebanese border used for smuggling weapons to Hezbollah," it stated.

A truce, which came into effect on Nov. 27, ended more than two months of open war between Hezbollah and Israel, which resulted in nearly 4,000 deaths in Lebanon and devastated strongholds of the pro-Iranian group. However, hundreds of cease-fire violations have occurred since. These strikes come less than two weeks before Jan. 26, the date on which the Israeli army is due to withdraw from southern Lebanon under the cease-fire agreement. Each side accuses the other of violating it.

42 people killed since the cease-fire

In its statement, the Israeli army claimed to have acted "in accordance with the cease-fire agreement" between Israel and Lebanon. According to this agreement, Hezbollah must dismantle its remaining military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and move its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The U.N. peacekeeping force accused Israel in January of a "flagrant violation" of Security Council Resolution 1701, which forms the basis of the cease-fire.

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people on Friday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Israeli army claimed to have hit a Hezbollah vehicle carrying weapons. At least 42 people have been killed in Lebanon since the cease-fire came into effect, according to L'Orient Today's tally.

Israeli army kidnaps beekeepers

Also in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army briefly abducted two beekeepers on Monday, in the Mari plain (Hasbaya district), located in the eastern sector of the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The two men were eventually released after being interrogated. The arrest, which was not reported by the Israeli army, took place as Israeli forces continued to advanced in the region, despite the supposed end of fighting. The Israeli army had been unable to invade the Mari region during its ground offensive, held back by Hezbollah fighters. Israeli soldiers are now taking advantage of the truce to move forward into various areas, destroying buildings as it moves.

The Civil Defense announced that it had found the bodies of ten other people killed by Israeli bombardment before the cease-fire came into effect, recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings in the locality of Tayr Harfa, as well as an eleventh in Shamaa, two villages in Sour district that were heavily bombed by the Isreali army.

The victims' remains have been transported to Jabal Amel hospital to undergo the necessary laboratory tests, including DNA tests, “in order to determine the identity of the martyrs,” said the Civil Defense, which plans to continue the search in coordination with the Lebanese Army. More than thirty bodies have been recovered in just over a month of search and rescue operations in southern Lebanon.