Lebanon accuses Israel of violating truce 'at least 54 times'

(Beirut) Lebanon on Monday accused Israel of “blatant violation” of the ceasefire with Hezbollah, while Israel rejected the accusations, saying the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement had violated the agreement, after strikes Israelis in Lebanon.

The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and who negotiated the truce on its behalf, affirmed that Israel had violated “at least 54 times” the ceasefire agreement which entered into force on the 27 november.

He called on the committee overseeing the truce, which includes the United States and France, “to urgently take action and force Israel to stop its violations and withdraw” from Lebanese territory.

The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, insisted on Monday with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, on “the need for all parties to respect the ceasefire in Lebanon,” his ministry indicated.

The Israeli minister, for his part, rejected accusations of violation of the ceasefire.

“On the contrary, Israel is enforcing it” in response “to Hezbollah violations that call for immediate action,” he said in a statement.

Several Israeli strikes have targeted Lebanon since the ceasefire came into force. Hezbollah, for its part, has not announced a response.

“Freedom of action”

On Monday, an Israeli drone targeted a Lebanese army post in Hermel, a region of the Bekaa plain in eastern Lebanon, far from the border with Israel, injuring a soldier, according to the army .

A man was also killed by an Israeli drone strike on the village of Marjayoun, near the border in southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.

The Lebanese news agency ANI said the man was riding a motorbike.

The Israeli army claimed to have “targeted military vehicles which were operating in the area of ​​a Hezbollah missile manufacturing site in the Bekaa”.

She added that she had “struck terrorist infrastructure sites used for arms smuggling near the Syrian-Lebanese border in the Hermel region”, and indicated that she was “investigating” the circumstances in which the Lebanese soldier was injured.

She also claimed to have carried out “several strikes in response to Hezbollah terrorists” in southern Lebanon.

Sponsored by the United States and France, the ceasefire agreement, which ended two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah, provides for the withdrawal within 60 days of the Israeli army from Lebanon.

Israeli soldiers entered southern Lebanon on September 30, a week after launching a massive aerial bombardment campaign against the Lebanese Islamist movement.

Hezbollah, for its part, must retreat north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

“The presence of Hezbollah agents south of the Litani constitutes a fundamental violation of the agreement and they must move north,” Mr. Saar said on X, emphasizing his country's commitment “to implement successfully implements the ceasefire.

As soon as the agreement was announced, Israel said it reserved “complete freedom of military action” in Lebanon, if Hezbollah “violated” the ceasefire and “attempted to rearm”.

The formation had opened a “support front” for Hamas after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement against southern Israel, which triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.