Israel strikes southern Lebanon ahead of key disarmament meeting

Israeli air forces struck multiple areas in southern Lebanon on Monday night and into Tuesday morning, including targets in the country’s third-largest city, Sidon.

A strike around 1 am local time levelled a three-storey building in the coastal city of Sidon, just a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

The building was located in a lively area in the commercial district, containing workshops and mechanical shops. Residents say the building was uninhabited.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, but at least one person was transported to hospital by ambulance after sustaining injuries. Rescue teams say their units are continuing to search for more at the destroyed building site and other struck areas.

On Monday, the Israeli army targeted multiple areas in the southern and eastern parts of Lebanon, claiming they held infrastructure sites for Hezbollah and the Gaza-based Hamas.

The attacks took place just hours after Israel’s military Arabic language Spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted warnings on social media platform X, that the military would strike Hezbollah and Hamas sites in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two more in southern Lebanon.

The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes.

Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of armed groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

The government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting on Thursday that will be attended by army commander General Rudolph Haikal. Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

The disarmament of Hezbollah and other groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas.

The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the US, under then President Joe Biden.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, on what they claim to be Hezbollah sites and infrastructure, but also killing at least 127 civilians in the process, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.