IAF strikes Hezbollah arms depots, training camps in Lebanon

The Israeli Air Force carried out a broad wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in the Beqaa region of Southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

As part of the operation, IAF aircraft struck camps where Hezbollah terrorists were gathering, as well as weapons depots, according to the IDF.

The Radwan Force is the Hezbollah unit tasked with infiltrating Israeli territory, seizing areas along the northern border and abducting hostages as part of the terror group’s “Conquer the Galilee” plan.

The targeted camps “are used by the Hezbollah terror group to train and prepare operatives for attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” the army said. “As part of this training, the terrorists conduct shooting drills and exercises with various types of weapons.”

The camps and arms depots represent “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and posed a future threat to the State of Israel,” the military added.

“The IDF will continue to operate with force to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent the rehabilitation of the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” according to the IDF.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sent “a clear message to the Hezbollah terror group, which is plotting to rebuild its capabilities to raid Israel through the Radwan Force—and also to the Lebanese government, which is responsible for upholding the agreement.

“Every terrorist will be targeted, and every threat to the residents of the State of Israel will be thwarted,” he continued. “We will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding [Hezbollah].”

On Nov. 26, 2024, Jerusalem and Beirut signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terror group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Since the truce, the IDF has conducted frequent raids to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding terror infrastructure in Southern Lebanon and so violating the terms of the ceasefire deal.

Last Friday, the IAF killed senior terrorist Muhammad Shoaib in a strike near Al-Numairiyah in Southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, the slain terrorist was a “significant” operative in a weapons smuggling route from Iran to northern Israel and Judea and Samaria.

Also over the weekend, the IAF eliminated a terrorist operative in Hezbollah’s anti-tank unit in the Khiam area in southeastern Lebanon.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has rejected demands to disarm in accordance with the truce, warning last week that the terror group was “rebuilding, recovering and ready now” to take on the IDF.