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Hezbollah fired into a disputed border zone held by Israel on Monday after multiple Israeli strikes inside Lebanon since a ceasefire took hold last week. The militant group said the volley, its first during the truce, was a warning shot in response to what it called repeated Israeli violations.
Israeli leaders threatened to retaliate and within hours, Israel’s military carried out a string of strikes in southern Lebanon, including five hits in the al-Tuffah region, Lebanese state media reported. There was no immediate word on casualties or what was struck. Israeli strikes in Lebanon in recent days have killed at least four people and wounded others.
The attacks have further strained the fragile US- and French-brokered ceasefire, which began Wednesday and calls for a 60-day halt in fighting. It aims to end more than a year of war between Hezbollah and Israel that’s part of a wider regional conflict sparked by the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days, with strikes, demolition of homes near the border and overflight of drones.
Israel has said its strikes were in response to unspecified Hezbollah violations, and that under the ceasefire deal it reserves the right to retaliate.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched two projectiles on Monday toward Mount Dov, a disputed Israeli-held territory known as Shebaa Farms in Lebanon, where the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet. Israel said the projectiles fell in open areas and no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired on an Israeli military position in the area as a “defensive and warning response” after what it called “repeated violations” of the ceasefire deal by Israel. It said complaints to mediators tasked with monitoring the ceasefire “were futile in stopping these violations.”
Officials in the United States—which along with France heads a commission meant to monitor adherence to the deal — played down the significance of Israeli strikes. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, “Largely speaking, the ceasefire is holding.”
“We’ve gone from dozens of strikes down to one a day maybe two a day,” Kirby told reporters, referring to Israeli strikes.
