Israel launches intense airstrikes in Lebanon as deadline looms to disarm Hezbollah

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern and northeastern Lebanon on Thursday as a deadline looms to disarm the militant Hezbollah group along the countries’ tense frontier.

The strikes came a day before a meeting of the committee monitoring the enforcement of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago. The gathering on Friday will be the second meeting of the mechanism after Israel and Lebanon appointed civilian members to a previously military-only committee. The group also includes the United States, France and the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the border.

In Paris, Lebanon’s army commander, Gen. Rodolph Haikal, was scheduled to hold meetings with American, French and Saudi officials to discuss ways of assisting the army in its mission to boost its presence in the border area. Haikal started his meetings first by holding talks with French military officials.

Gen. Fabien Mandon, the French armed forces’ chief of staff, posted on X Thursday that he discussed with Haikal the strategic environment and security challenges in Lebanon and the region.

Mandon said that France’s help to the Lebanese army is guided by a common objective, which is “to contribute to maintaining stability and lasting peace, in respect with Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

The Lebanese government has said that the army should have cleared the whole border area south of the Litani River from Hezbollah’s armed presence by the end of the year.

The Israeli military said that the strikes hit Hezbollah infrastructure and launching sites in a military compound used by the group to conduct training and courses for its fighters. The Israeli military also said that it struck several Hezbollah military structures in which weapons were stored, and from which Hezbollah members operated recently.

The intense airstrikes stretched from areas in Mount Rihan in the south to the northeastern Hermel region that borders Syria, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, or NNA.

Shortly afterward, a drone strike on a car near the southern town of Taybeh wounded four people, NNA reported.

“This is an Israeli message to the Paris meeting aiming to support the Lebanese army,” parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri said about the strikes.

“The fire belt of Israeli airstrikes is to honor the mechanism’s meeting tomorrow (Friday),” Berri said during a parliamentary meeting in Beirut.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members, but also killing 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Over the past several weeks, the U.S. has increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah.