Israeli escalation kills at least 2, sends message to Berri

Israel has, once again, opted for escalation through violence. Earlier today, it carried out two strikes that killed at least two people. One of the strikes targeted a vehicle deep inside Lebanon's mountainous Chouf district, the first time Israel has struck the area in almost eight months.

The driver of the vehicle who was killed was a member of the Amal movement, Hezbollah's political ally. This is the first time since the November 2024 cease-fire that Israel targets a member of the group.

Today's escalation comes at a time when pressure on the Lebanese government is growing to push ahead with disarming Hezbollah and raises the question of whether the move is intended as a direct message to the movement's leader and Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri.

Despite nuances in their respective positions, Amal and Hezbollah's alliance continues to assert that they remain on the same wavelength on the issue of the state's monopoly on weapons.

5 injured, including 3 General Security agents

In the early afternoon, an Israeli drone strike targeted a tanker truck between the villages of Markaba and Odaisseh (Bint Jbeil), according to our correspondent. One person was seriously injured and taken to the hospital after the strike, but later succumbed to his injuries.

Less than an hour later, an Israeli drone carried out a strike on the village of Sibline, in the Chouf region, targeting a pickup truck carrying water.

According to witnesses, the driver managed to escape after the first missile hit the vehicle, but was struck by a second missile, our correspondent reports.

After the strike, two Israeli drones flew over the targeted site. The victim, Hussein Qoteish, originally from the village of Anqoun (Saida), was a member of the Amal movement. The only other victim from the Amal movement since the cease-fire was a resident of Houla, killed during an Israeli shooting targeting civilians returning home to southern Lebanon after the war.

The attack also left five people injured, including three General Security agents who happened to be there. The injured were Officer Hadi Younes, from the village of Dalhoun (Iqlim al-Kharroub) and agents Alaa Shehadeh and Tarek Seif, from the village of Mazboud (Chouf). Two of them are in stable condition, while the third had to be hospitalized at the Sibline government hospital.

The president of the Federation of Municipalities of Iqlim al-Kharroub, Majed Terro, strongly condemned, in a statement, the attack on the Sibline region in the Chouf, which killed one person this afternoon, the driver of a tanker truck.

He described this strike "by the Israeli enemy" as a "flagrant violation" against "a road safely used by the inhabitants of Iqlim al-Kharroub." The elected official assured that this strike "strengthens our support for state institutions, led by the Lebanese Army, to ensure our security."

Chouf is considered a stronghold of the Progressive Socialist Party led by Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, who maintains a "partnership" with Berri. After these strikes, the Israeli army fired a flare in the area known as the quarries near the village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil). It also fired a bomb near the village of Marwahine (Sour).

Israeli flags in Dhaira

An Israeli army patrol infiltrated Lebanese territory, about 500 meters beyond the Blue Line, in the Dhaira region (Sour), according to reports on Tuesday from local residents contacted by our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Shortly before 2 p.m., soldiers planted Israeli flags and deposited crates of ammunition, bombs and grenades, according to these residents, who urged the Lebanese Army to detonate them in order to secure the area.

According to the mayor of Dhaira, Naji Soueid, contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, the Lebanese Army was informed of this cease-fire violation and was ordered to quickly send a patrol to the site.

He later confirmed, at around 2:30 p.m., that Lebanese soldiers had indeed detonated the ammunition left there by the Israeli army. Finally, Hezbollah announced the death of two of its fighters who had been missing since the war, Ali al-Hadi Ghassan Hijazi and Hussein Mustafa Ashhab.