TEL AVIV
\nIsrael pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November.
\nVideo showed massive plumes of gray smoke rising above a hilltop, and Lebanon\u2019s official National News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Nabatieh.
\nThe Washington Post was unable to immediately verify who or what struck the residential building in Nabatieh; neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Lebanon\u2019s government responded to requests for comment.
\nLebanon\u2019s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 21 were injured during the strikes. The National News Agency reported there were more than 20 hits in under 15 minutes.
\nThe Israel Defense Forces said Israeli air force fighter jets targeted a \u201csignificant underground project\u201d used by Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon. The site was \u201ccompletely taken out of use\u201d following the strikes, the IDF said. Beaufort Ridge is about five miles from Nabatieh.
\nIn a separate Arabic-language statement, spokesman Avichay Adraee said the IDF did not target a civilian building. Instead, he said, a rocket, stored by Hezbollah inside the building, \u201cwas launched and hit the civilian building\u201d as a result of Israel\u2019s strike.
\nAdraee accused Hezbollah of endangering civilians by not giving up its arsenal to the Lebanese government, saying he expected the Lebanese military to confiscate Hezbollah\u2019s weapons.
\nLebanon\u2019s government, which has pledged to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, condemned the attacks, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying they represented \u201ca blatant violation of national sovereignty \u2026 and pose a threat to the stability we are keen to preserve.\u201d Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel \u201ccontinues to flout regional and international resolutions\u201d and called on the international community to intervene.
\nThe Trump administration argues a ceasefire between Israel and Iran could help secure peace on Israel\u2019s other fronts, including Gaza, as well as lead to normalization agreements with some of Israel\u2019s Arab neighbors.
\nBut in southern Lebanon, even since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire seven months ago, Israeli strikes have remained a near-daily occurrence, analysts say.
\nIn its Friday statement, Israel said Hezbollah had been making \u201crehabilitation attempts\u201d in southern Lebanon; the November ceasefire deal required Lebanese forces to ensure that all Hezbollah infrastructure is removed from the area.
\nBetween Nov. 27 \u2014 the day after the deal was announced \u2014 and June 9, 172 Lebanese deaths and 409 injuries have been reported as a result of Israeli attacks, said Hussein Chaabane, a Beirut-based investigative journalist with Legal Agenda who has been tracking the strikes. Chaabane\u2019s toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
\nDespite a mid-February deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw, the IDF has remained in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon close to the border. And entire areas in the south have become \u201cunofficial buffer zones,\u201d where residents who dare to travel face sniper fire and drone strikes by the IDF, Chaabane said. He said the strikes on Friday were significant \u2014 and caused fear in the surrounding community \u2014 because of the size of the explosions.
\n\u201cWhat is happening is more than just the ceasefire being violated,\u201d Chaabane said. \u201cIt is the transformation of the south of Lebanon. \u2026 It has become a de facto security strip.\u201d
\nThe IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Chaabane\u2019s report.
\nHassan Wazni, the director of Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital, said the strikes were so strong that they shook the ground, reminding him of the period of heavy strikes last year.
\nDavid Wood, a Lebanon analyst with the International Crisis Group, said that while some people in other parts of the country feel the war has ended, \u201cthat has never been the case in southern Lebanon.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is a feeling that the ceasefire doesn\u2019t protect them, that Israel is doing whatever it pleases in a military sense, and that the United States \u2014 which is the chair of the monitoring committee \u2014 is allowing them to do so,\u201d he said. He referred to a committee including representatives from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations that is charged with monitoring violations of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.
\nWood added that the longer the strikes continue and civilians are killed, the more frustration in southern Lebanon could grow, including with the new government for failing to protect its residents.
\n\u201cThe longer this goes on and the state can\u2019t protect them,\u201d he warned, \u201cthe more likely people are to turn to Hezbollah and groups like it that could emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEL AVIV Israel pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. Video showed massive plumes of gray smoke rising above a hilltop, and Lebanon\u2019s official National News Agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n