No Israeli airstrikes or demolitions overnight in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT — The Israeli army carried out no airstrikes or demolitions in southern Lebanon overnight Thursday into Friday, according to our correspondent in the South. While artillery attacks and machine-gun fire still targeted several areas, a resident of Qleileh, in the Sour district, noted the absence of nighttime explosions "for the first time since June."

Qleileh is a few kilometers north of Mansouri, a village bordering the occupied "buffer zone" that Israeli forces have shelled continuously in recent months. A cease-fire theoretically took effect in Lebanon in June as part of the protocol agreement between Iran and the United States, which called for an end to attacks in Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for firing at Israeli forces, while the Israeli army has continued its bombardments, mainly in the occupied sector.

Local sources report "relative calm," with a decrease in the intensity of attacks in recent hours. Since dawn, artillery fire has targeted the Wadi Slouqi valley in the Marjayoun district and the outskirts of Kfar Shuba in the Hasbaya district. This trend was also observed overnight, when fire targeted Haddatha and Beit Yahoun in the Bint Jbeil district; Byout al-Siyad, Mansouri and the Zibdin valley in the Sour district; Zawtar Sharqieh in the Nabatieh district; and Wadi Slouqi and Bani Hayan in the Marjayoun district.

This apparent reduction in Israeli attacks came as Israeli press reports indicated a possible reduction in troop levels in the southern Lebanon "buffer zone," with several special forces brigades withdrawn and replaced by regular units, and a shrinking of the occupied "zone." Israel's Channel 12 reported Friday that a "reorganization" of the Israeli deployment in southern Lebanon is underway, including the construction of "new fortified positions in occupied territory," where troops already have several bases.

Reporting by our southern Lebanon correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah