BEIRUT — Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya responded to a video showing the Lebanese Army seizing weapons and taking control of a military position in southern Lebanon's Arqoub by denying any military presence in the region.

The video was broadcast on al-Jadeed on Thursday, citing its own anonymous sources in a report that claimed the position was controlled by the party's armed wing.

“We do not have military bases in Arqoub and have no connection to the weapons seized in the area,” the Sunni party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood said in an official statement. It insisted to not having “any military base in the mentioned area, nor elsewhere, and denied any connection or relation to the seized equipment and rockets.,” and called on “all media to verify their information with their sources, to establish and preserve the truth.”

A senior leader within al-Jamaa al-Islamiya was killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes targeting a car traveling in Baawerta, in Mount Lebanon, about twenty kilometers south of Beirut. Members of the party's al-Fajr Brigades had claimed several military operations in southern Lebanon during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, who opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza.

The cease-fire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, which came into force on November 27, 2024, stipulates the Israeli army's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah's withdrawal to north of the Litani, and the deployment of thousands of Lebanese soldiers in the area between the river and the border.

The Lebanese Army announced the recruitment of thousands of new soldiers in light of its expanded mission and continues continues to expand its deployment in the area. In violation of the cease-fire, the Israeli army continues to occupy five positions it considers ‘strategic’ on Lebanese territory and conducts almost daily strikes on Lebanon, primarily in the South and along the border with Syria.