Five killed by Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah training camps in northern Lebanon

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) continued its ongoing strikes against Hezbollah targets on Monday and Tuesday, killing at least five members of the terror group in a series of strikes.

On Monday, the military said it struck several targets in the Bekaa Valley, in the central part of the country.

Among them were training compounds of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, “in which Hezbollah terrorists were identified and where weapons were stored. The military compounds that were struck were used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization for training and preparing terrorists to plan and execute attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

“As part of the terrorists' exercises and training at these military sites, the terrorists carried out drills for gunfire combat and additional training for the use of various weapons,” the IDF said.

On Tuesday morning, a reported Israeli drone strike on a car some 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) south of Beirut wounded a Hezbollah operative, according to AFP.

As part of the ceasefire agreement that ended last year’s war with Hezbollah, Israel secured the right to strike any violation or move that could threaten its security, and has since carried out hundreds of strikes, most of them in southern Lebanon.

The IDF noted that “the storage of weapons and the activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization at these sites constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a threat to the State of Israel,” vowing to “remove any threat to the state of Israel” or attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild its capabilities in the future.

Following the significant decline of Hezbollah’s power after Israel killed most of its leadership and decimated its arsenal last year, a new Lebanese government vowed to disarm the terror group under pressure from the U.S.

Last week, the Lebanese cabinet “welcomed” a plan by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to disarm the group, without disclosing any details or formally adopting it.

According to a Monday report by the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper, Israel has transmitted a request through the U.S. that the Lebanese Army begin the disarmament in the regions of Baalbek and Hermel, located in the Bekaa Valley, noting the area is “a hub for advanced missiles and drones.”

Israel sent the U.S.-led committee overseeing the ceasefire “dozens of coordinates to be submitted to the [Lebanese] army for inspection,” the report said.

However, “Army officers voiced reservations over this measure, stressing that Israel cannot be trusted and that there can be no show of force or a provocation to local residents.”

Also, on Monday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his government “will carry on with the implementation of its decisions as to the monopolization of arms in the hands of the state across Lebanon.”

“After it returned to its natural position among its Arab brothers, Lebanon needs boosting support for the Lebanese Army, seeing as it is the main pillar for protecting the country,” he said, adding that other countries should pressure Israel “to halt its attacks and withdraw from the Lebanese territory it is still occupying.”