Series of strikes in the South and the Bekaa, 'false alarm' in northern Israel

BEIRUT — The "specter of war" in Lebanon, which has receded without being fully dismissed as President Joseph Aoun stated Wednesday, seemed to loom a little closer over the south Friday morning.

Lebanese people held their breath as Israeli media reported in the morning that warning sirens had sounded in the village of Bar'am, located less than a kilometer from the Blue Line, in what ultimately turned out to be a false alarm, later followed by a series of Israeli airstrikes on the south and the Bekaa.

Around noon, the Israeli army conducted, in about thirty minutes, a dozen strikes on southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, according to information from our correspondent.

Fighter jets twice targeted the outskirts of Ansar, as well as an area between Tebna and Baissariyeh (in the Saida district), the heights of Rihan (Jezzine), the Aazzeh valley, the Wadi al-Akhdar region in Iqlim al-Touffah (Nabatieh), and the Sajed hills (Bint Jbeil).

All of these areas have been repeatedly bombed by the Israeli army since the cease-fire took effect on Nov. 24, 2024. Explosions could be heard as far as Saida, the major city in the south.

The toll from these strikes stands, for now, at one lightly wounded person, a Syrian worker, in one of the strikes on Tebna.

In the afternoon, the health ministry reported that the Israeli strikes on Ansar injured one person.

The road linking this village and the neighboring village of Teffahta was also temporarily closed due to debris. In West Bekaa, an Israeli strike also targeted the heights of the village of Ain al-Tineh, according to our correspondent in the area.

The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the strikes on south Lebanon, saying it had targeted an "al-Radwan Force training complex," the Hezbollah elite unit, and "military buildings."

"As part of these attacks, the Israeli army targeted a training complex used by al-Radwan to train its members in planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli Defense Forces and citizens of the State of Israel. Terrorists underwent shooting training there and instruction in the use of various weapons," according to a statement published on X by Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson.

The Israeli army also said it had targeted "military buildings recently used to store combat gear for Hezbollah members."

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'False alarm' in northern Israel

In the morning, shortly after 10 a.m., warning sirens sounded in Bar'am, a locality facing Yaroun (Bint Jbeil district) on the Lebanese side, reported the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Residents indicated they had seen an interceptor missile fired. A Yaroun resident confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour that a powerful explosion was heard after this shot. It is the first time that warning sirens have sounded in this area since the cease-fire.

Hezbollah had fired toward Israeli territory only once, in early December 2024, and Hamas had repeatedly launched projectiles, each time provoking deadly Israeli reprisals.

A source close to Hezbollah quickly told Reuters that the group was not involved in the incident, while the Israeli army eventually confirmed it was a "false alarm," according to a message posted on X.

An excavator bombed

Fears of a new Israeli offensive continue to weigh on Lebanon, while the Israeli state accuses Hezbollah of not disarming and Lebanese authorities of dithering. In this context, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled earlier this week to Washington to discuss cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as the situation in Iran.

After a meeting in Florida, President Donald Trump said the Lebanese government is "The Lebanese government is a little bit of disadvantage if you think about it with Hezbollah," claiming the party "has been behaving badly, so we'll see what happens."

In addition, on the night of Thursday to Friday, the Israeli army continued its attacks in south Lebanon and dropped a bomb from a drone on an excavator parked in Aita al-Shaab, in the Bint Jbeil district.

The raid caused no casualties, according to our correspondent in the south. These attacks on construction equipment are recurrent in the south, where Israel accuses Hezbollah of seeking to rebuild its capabilities.

There was also automatic gunfire from an Israeli position on the disputed heights of Kfar Shuba targeting the outskirts of this village in the Hasbaya district.

Reporting by our regional correspondents Muntasser Abdallah in southern Lebanon and Sarah Abdallah in the Bekaa.