The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group has violated the U.S.-backed ceasefire understandings with Lebanon more than 1,900 times since they went into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, the Israeli military said on Sunday.
The IDF eliminated some 40 terror operatives in Southern Lebanon since the beginning of October, bringing the total number of slain terrorists to 380 since the truce took effect, the statement added.
“The terrorists who were eliminated took part in terrorist activity in the area of Southern Lebanon, including the reestablishment of terrorist infrastructure sites, weapons smuggling and liaison between the residents of the area and the Hezbollah headquarters,” it said.
The activities constitute “further evidence of the presence and activity of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area, in complete violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the army concluded.
The IDF also said on Sunday that it had eliminated Zakaria Yahya al-Hajj, a senior Hezbollah terrorist, in an airstrike in the Jwaya area of Southern Lebanon. The operative “activated agents within Lebanon’s security systems” and worked to suppress criticism of Hezbollah, it stated.
Al-Hajj’s activities “constituted a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians, and a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military noted.
In additional statements, the IDF confirmed it had carried out at least two additional strikes in Southern Lebanon within less than an hour, killing a Hezbollah operative in the Yater area involved in efforts to reestablish the group’s infrastructure and another in the Bint Jbeil area who served as Hezbollah’s local representative, handling the financial and military coordination with residents and seizing “private assets for terror use.”
The IDF added that a third strike targeting another terror operative was carried out later in the day, with the outcome still under investigation.
“The terrorists’ activities constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF said. “The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat and defend the State of Israel.”
A ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, following an intense two-month IDF military campaign that led to the weakening of the Iranian proxy’s leadership. The deal was cemented by the Israeli and Lebanese governments and five mediating countries, including the United States.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Qatar’s Al Araby Television Network on Dec. 6 that Beirut is seeking to disarm all armed groups in the country’s south, including Hezbollah, by the end of the year.
The Trump administration has reportedly set Dec. 31 as the deadline for the Lebanese government to disarm the Iranian-backed terrorist army.
However, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajj told Qatar’s Al Jazeera on Friday that while Beirut held “talks with Hezbollah to persuade it to hand over its weapons,” the terrorist organization has refused to do so.
Lebanon’s top diplomat said that Beirut has received warnings from “Arab and international parties” that Jerusalem was preparing for a large-scale operation against Hezbollah’s presence on the border.
“We are intensifying our diplomatic contacts to protect Lebanon and Lebanese facilities from any Israeli strike,” Rajj said in the interview.
