IDF strikes Hezbollah training compounds deep within Lebanon, Smotrich says new escalation is ‘likely’

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted another wave of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Monday night, as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich estimated that Israel would “likely” have to intensify its operations against the terror group again.

The strikes followed shortly after Israel conveyed to the Lebanese government that it won’t stop striking Hezbollah despite the recent first civilian-level meeting between the countries’ representatives.

The IDF said in the evening that it had struck infrastructure of the group in several areas, destroying “a training and qualification compound used by Hezbollah’s Radwan Force for conducting training and courses… for planning and executing terrorist activities against IDF troops and Israeli civilians.”

According to Army Radio, the targets were not south of the Litani River, like most recent Israeli strikes, but were located in the Nabatieh region, some 20–30 km north of the border.

A security source told the outlet, “Routine enforcement strikes are continuing.”

The IDF added that other “military structures and a launch site belonging to Hezbollah, used to advance terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel, were also struck.”

“The targets that were struck, and the military training conducted in preparation for attacks against the State of Israel, constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and [were] a threat to the State of Israel.”

The Lebanese newspaper L’Orient LeJour reported on Tuesday that at least one of the attacked sites was located close to a school, as a blast shattered windows in a school building in the town of Jbaa. The building was “heavily” damaged by the Israeli strikes, the outlet claimed.

Also on Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told the Jewish News Syndicate that he estimates military operations in southern Lebanon would “likely” need to be escalated.

“We are enforcing in Lebanon, without compromise, against any Hezbollah armament and any violation of the ceasefire,” Smotrich stated at a Knesset meeting of his Religious Zionism Party.

“It is likely that we will soon need to return and operate there to preserve the gains achieved against Hezbollah,” said the minister, who also holds a ministerial position in the defense ministry.

“We will not allow Hezbollah to remain. Residents of the north (of Israel) deserve to live in complete security in their communities,” he added. “There will no longer be a situation in which towns are the front line and the IDF is behind them. The IDF will be the front protecting the communities, and the communities will be behind it.”

In Lebanon, government officials continue to insist that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are doing their utmost to disarm Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun received French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beirut on Monday. Le Drian welcomed the appointment of ex-Ambassador Simon Karam as the civilian representative in talks with Israel, and the two leaders discussed the situation in South Lebanon, as well as preparations for a conference to support the Lebanese Army, according to an official statement.

Responding to Israeli claims, Aoun said he rejected “accusations claiming that the Lebanese army is not fully carrying out its role south of the Litani River.”

Aoun told Le Drian that Lebanon “supports any audit conducted by the ceasefire monitoring committee regarding the procedures implemented south of the Litani.”

Several days earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the Qatari Al Araby outlet that his government intends to complete its deployment and the disarmament of all groups south of the Litani by the end of the year.

Hezbollah had “accepted the ceasefire agreement, which restricts weapons to the hands of state forces,” Salam said. “We are committed to restricting weapons south of the Litani by the end of the year, and in the remaining areas during the next year.”