BEIRUT — On Saturday, the 73rd day of a cease-fire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, Israel once again bombed Lebanon, killing at least six people in an airstrike targeting the Anti-Lebanon mountain range on the border between Lebanon and Syria. The attack targeted the Shaara area, and ambulances were immediately dispatched to the scene.

The victims were identified later in the evening as Mohammad Hussein Yazbeck, Kassem Hamza al-Moukahhal, Ali Bassam al-Tarhini, Mahmoud Abdallah al-Haq, Mohammad Younes Iskandar, and Moustapha Alawiyeh.

The Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, wrote on X, stating that the army's air force had targeted "Hezbollah agents in the Bekaa after they were spotted inside a production and storage site" belonging to the party. "The activities conducted inside this site constitute a blatant violation of the agreements made between Israel and Lebanon," Adraee claimed. The Israeli army has been accused of more than 800 cease-fire violations since it came into effect on Nov. 27, 2023. It has regularly bombed, shelled, and demolished homes in southern Lebanon and has killed more than 50 people, including more than 20 civilians at point-blank range. It continues to occupy around 10 villages along the border.

Houses set on fire in Odaisseh

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army set fire to houses in several neighborhoods of Odaisseh, a village in the Marjayoun district that it continues to occupy. A drone also dropped a stun grenade on several inhabitants of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), though no injuries were reported.

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The Israeli army asked for and received and extension to the cease-fire agreement, prolonging the window in which it occupies areas of the South until Feb. 18. In the meantime, it continues to blow up houses and municipal infrastructure in the villages where its troops remain deployed, while the Lebanese Army gradually expands its deployment in the wake of Israeli withdrawals, in line with the cease-fire's terms.

On Friday, the Israeli army set fire to houses in Kfar Kila, the few still standing in this border villages in Marjayoun district, and it blew up three others. The outskirts of Kfar Shuba, in the Hasbaya district, were also targeted by machine gunfire from Roueissat al-Alam, on the Israeli occupied, disputed Kfar Shuba hills. In the evening, the Israeli army triggered a powerful explosion in Mais al-Jabal, in the Marjayoun district.

Calls for caution in Southern Lebanon

Several municipalities in the western and central sectors of the border strip in southern Lebanon advised residents, journalists, and visitors to remain vigilant due to landmines left by the Israeli army in the now-liberated villages, according to a statement published Saturday by the state-run National News Agency.

On Friday, four people, including two little girls, were killed in Tayr Harfa, a village in Sour district, when a booby-trapped armchair exploded as the family tried to retrieve what was left of their furniture. One of the victims, Abbas Haidar, was clearing the debris in his home, which had been severely damaged by an Israeli strike. He and a friend were carrying the chair when it exploded. His two daughters, aged seven and eight, were nearby and were killed, as was the friend who was helping him transport his furniture. His third daughter was injured.

The device had been placed during Israeli troops' occupation of the village, but it denied "any link" to the deadly explosion, adding that according to them, it killed a Hezbollah commander and several members of his family.

Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondents in the South and in the Bekaa, Muntasser Abdallah and Sarah Abdallah.