The destruction of homes and buildings in the southern Lebanon village of Odaisseh is seen from inside northern Israel on Sunday, the fifth day of the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
Hezbollah fired Monday evening at an Israeli Army post in a south Lebanon border area in the first such response to repeated Israeli violations — reported by the United States and France — of a cease-fire agreement achieved last week to end nearly 14 months of a bloody conflict between the enemies.
Hezbollah said it carried out “a defensive and warning response” to Israeli violations that killed and wounded several people, targeting an Israeli Army outpost in the Rwayset al Alam in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shouba hills on the border. Advertisement
Israel confirmed that Hezbollah fired two mortar rounds that landed in open areas, causing no casualties or damage.
According to the Ynet website, Israeli officials described the incident as a “symbolic violation, likely intended as a warning to Israel” in response to Israeli Army “enforcement actions against Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon.” Advertisement
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, called Hezbollah’s mortar attack “a serious violation of the cease-fire” and vowed a strong response.
“We are determined to continue enforcing the cease-fire and to respond to every Hezbollah violation, no matter how minor or severe,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
The mounting tension came after Lebanon’s House Speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of more than 54 violations of a cease-fire agreement — accusations backed by U.S. and French warnings of Israeli non-compliance.
Berrri dismissed Israel’s claims that it has the right under the agreement to act against “threats,” saying “the aggressive actions of the Israeli occupying forces” are “flagrant violations” of the cease-fire that went into effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
He cited bulldozing houses in border villages, the continuation of air sorties and carrying out raids that have targeted the depths of the Lebanese regions, killing and wounding several people.
Lebanon’s State Security said one of its members was killed Monday while on duty by an Israeli drone attack in the Nabatiyeh region in “a flagrant violation” of the cease-fire.
One person also was killed in a similar air hit in the Marjeyoun area, while another was injured in the village of Ainata. Israel also fired two artillery shells on Beit Lif and heavy machine gun fire toward the village of Yaron. Advertisement
The Lebanese Army said one soldier was wounded when an Israeli drone targeted an Army bulldozer while it was carrying out fortification work inside the Al-Abbara military base in the northeastern Hermel district near the border with Syria.
Monday’s casualties bring to four the number of killed and the number wounded to more than a dozen in Israeli violations since Wednesday.
Berri, who negotiated the truce deal with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein on behalf of his Hezbollah ally, called on the monitoring committee tasked with the implementation of the agreement “to carry out its duties urgently and oblige Israel to stop its violations and withdraw from the territories it occupied [in south Lebanon] before anything else.”
He reiterated that Lebanon and Hezbollah were “fully committed” to their pledge of respecting the truce agreement.
The United States and France also warned that Israel violated the truce and called for restraint.
According to Ynet, which quoted sources familiar with the details, Hochstein told Israel there had been Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, “mainly the visible and audible return of Israeli drones in the skies over Beirut.”
France accused Israel on Sunday of 52 violations, while its foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, insisted during a phone call Monday with his Israel counterpart Gideon Saar “the need that all parties respect the cease-fire in Lebanon.” Advertisement
Saar told Barrot that Israel was not violating the cease-fire but “enforcing it amid Hezbollah’s violations that require real-time response.” He claimed that the presence of Hezbollah south of the Litani is a violation and that the group “must move northward.”
Israel, according to France, has failed to report Hezbollah’s violations to the monitoring committee and used “lethal force” that resulted in killing civilians.
The cease-fire agreement, which was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, was the result of months of complicated negotiations to achieve a formula that allows a strict implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, backed by U.S. guarantees and an enforced-monitoring committee to deal with violations.
Both Israel and Hezbollah accepted it.
Under the deal, the Lebanese Army and security forces will deploy to take control of the border area within 60 days. Hezbollah will not be allowed to rebuild its infrastructure.
Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces during that period, and civilians on both sides of the border will return to their homes and businesses.
However, the violations come at a time when the monitoring committee led by U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, hasn’t started its duties.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, met Monday with Jeffers, who serves as a co-chair, alongside Hochstein, for the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. Advertisement
Mikati stressed the need for a complete respect of the cease-fire, “preventing security breaches, and [securing the] withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese territories.”
