The Albany Gazette - Israel strikes south, east Lebanon after evacuation warnings

It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

An AFP photographer in Kfar Hatta, one of the targeted villages in south Lebanon, saw dozens of families flee the village after the warning was issued, amid drone activity in the area, adding that ambulances and fire trucks were on standby.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on the four villages.

According to the NNA, the strike on Al-Manara in eastern Lebanon caused "the complete destruction of a house and serious damage to surrounding houses, cars and commercial establishments".

The Israeli military said in a statement it "began striking Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in Lebanon".

In two separate posts on X, the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the villages were Kfar Hatta and Annan in south Lebanon, and Al-Manara and Ain al-Tineh in eastern Lebanon.

Adraee said the military would hit Hezbollah sites in Kfar Hatta and Ain al-Tinah, and Hamas sites in Annan and Al-Manara.

The NNA said the home targeted in Al-Manara belonged to Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in 2024.

- Repeated attacks -

Despite a year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites and operatives, and occasionally Hamas targets.

Two people were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle on Sunday, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, the Lebanese health ministry said.

In November, an Israeli strike on south Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp killed 13 people.

Israel said it targeted a Hamas compound, with the group rejecting the claim.

It has also hit Hamas' ally in Lebanon, the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the ceasefire.

Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Beirut has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened after more than a year of hostilities with Israel including two months of open war that ended with the November 2024 ceasefire.

Lebanon's army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel -- by the end of 2025, before tackling the rest of the country.

All four of Monday's targeted villages are located north of the river.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called the disarmament efforts far from sufficient.

Lebanon's cabinet is to meet on Thursday to discuss the army's progress, while the ceasefire monitoring committee -- comprising Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and UN peacekeepers -- is also set to meet this week.

At least 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.

(K.Lee--TAG)