Military says it hit Hezbollah surveillance operatives, terror group’s sites in Lebanon; weapons in Syria; Palestinian suspects trying to plant bomb near troops in Strip
The Israeli military conducted airstrikes in Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip on Monday, which it said targeted several terror operatives and military sites that “posed a threat to the State of Israel.”
According to local media and medics, the strikes killed at least nine people and wounded several others.
In Lebanon, a strike in the afternoon targeted two Hezbollah operatives, whom the Israel Defense Forces said were carrying out surveillance operations on Israel and were directing “terror activity” in the area of the southern town of Yohmor.
The state-run National News Agency said that the drone strike in Yohmor had targeted a motorcycle with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and “fires erupted in it” and a nearby shop.
Lebanon’s health ministry said both men were killed in the strike, and at least two passersby were wounded.
Later in the day, the IDF carried out a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley region — a Hezbollah stronghold — as well as in the country’s south. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the evening strikes in Lebanon.
The IDF said it targeted sites where it had identified Hezbollah operatives and weapons, adding that “the terror activity at these sites poses a threat to the State of Israel and is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Later on Monday, the IDF said it was carrying out airstrikes on military targets in southern Syria, targeting including headquarters and other facilities used to store weapons and equipment belonging to the former Syrian regime. The military said it identified attempts by unspecified groups to use those weapons.
“The presence of these [weapons] in southern Syria is a threat to the State of Israel. The IDF will not allow the existence of a military threat in southern Syria and will act against it,” the IDF said.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that “two civilians died and 19 others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Daraa city.”
Also on Monday, the IDF carried out several strikes in the southern and central Gaza Strip.
Two separate drone strikes were conducted in the Bureij area of central Gaza, with the IDF saying it had targeted two groups of terror operatives trying to plant bombs in the ground, near troops.
According to Palestinian media reports, five were killed in the strikes.
Separately, the IDF said it carried out another strike against a group of terror operatives who were trying to plant a bomb in the ground near troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah, which local media said left several wounded.
The strikes in Lebanon and Gaza came during ceasefires on both war fronts, but Israel has said it will continue to act against terror operatives who are in breach of the truces and who pose threats to its forces.
A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The fighting came after the terror group attacked Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of ally Hamas, which invaded from Gaza a day earlier. The persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.
Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except from five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and threatening Israel.
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that began on January 19, which has seen 33 Israelis returned. Talks are underway to potentially extend the first phase or move to the second stage of the agreement, although Israel has said there could be a return to fighting.
In Syria, the IDF has said it will continue to act against all threats as the country’s new regime grapples with consolidating power in the wake of the collapse of the decades-long rule of the Assad family.
In the months since his coalition ousted longtime Assad, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government have made strides in reforming the government, including passing a temporary constitution earlier this month.
While the collapse of the Assad regime brought an end to the country’s more than decade-long civil war, a renewed wave of sectarian violence sparked fears that the new government would not be able to effectively keep the peace in Syria.
Israeli leaders have consistently stated that they do not trust Sharaa, whom Katz has called an “extreme Islamic leader.”
Sharaa has dismissed Israel’s threats and Katz’s comments as “nonsense.”
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by Ailin Vilches Arguello