The Israeli the military said on Thursday that its warplanes fired on the southern Lebanon after the discovery of Hezbollah activity at the rocket depot, the first Israeli airstrike a day after truce between Israel and Hezbollah took off.
There were no reports of casualties in the Israeli airstrike, which came hours after the Israeli army said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon.
Israel said they did violation of the ceasefire agreementwithout giving details. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that two people were wounded.
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The parallel incidents have caused unease over the deal, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese soldiers and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a truce after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, near the border, without providing further details.
Israel said it fired artillery at three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard the buzz of Israeli drones overhead and the sound of artillery fire from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects have been identified who arrived with vehicles in a number of areas in southern Lebanon, violating the terms of the ceasefire.”
It said troops had “opened fire on them” and would “actively enforce ceasefire violations”.
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Israeli officials said forces would be withdrawn gradually to ensure the agreement was implemented. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would be gradually deployed in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The cease-fire agreement announced on Tuesday evening ended a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’s attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in a sign solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before escalating into full-scale war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still going on and there is no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting has killed more than 70 people in Israel – more than half civilians – as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
About 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began returning to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese and Israeli armies to stay away from certain areas.
Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned, and communities near the northern border are still largely abandoned.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border overlooking Lebanon, about three-quarters of the houses were damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burned interiors. Several residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
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