Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly wounded Saturday when their engineering vehicle drove over an explosive device belonging to Hezbollah in the security zone in Southern Lebanon, the military said.
The soldiers were evacuated for medical treatment, and their families were notified.
In response, the IDF struck Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas of Southern Lebanon, including observation posts and other sites used by the Iranian-backed terror group to plan and carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers.
The IDF said it would continue to operate in the security zone in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese government, and would take action to remove threats to Israeli civilians.
“The IDF is currently operating and will continue to operate with determination against Hezbollah’s repeated attempts to harm IDF soldiers,” the military added.
Jerusalem and Beirut signed a U.S.-brokered framework agreement on June 26, aimed at disarming nongovernmental armed forces across Lebanon, as a path toward lasting peace between the two nations. Ongoing talks have focused on the technical steps to achieve this purpose, with pilot zones designated for deployment of the Lebanese army, to test its capacity to battle Hezbollah and dismantle terrorist infrastructure.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told AFP on Tuesday that his government remains interested in a security agreement with Jerusalem and determined to disarm Hezbollah.
“This could be a prelude to a later peace agreement, but we cannot jump directly to a peace agreement,” he said. “We have no choice but negotiations, because the alternative is war, which would be very costly for us.”
Aoun called his government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah “neither negotiable nor open to discussion.”
Last week, the IDF destroyed a sprawling Hezbollah underground network under the Ali al-Taher Ridge in southeastern Lebanon, completing the consolidation of the security zone along Israel’s northern border.
The strategic terrorist infrastructure, built over two decades with Iranian funding and planning, was intended to serve as a staging base for Hezbollah’s planned conquest of the Galilee.
The operation followed the destruction of Hezbollah’s main underground routes in the Beaufort Ridge (about 2.8 miles southeast of the Ali al-Taher Ridge) and the surrounding villages of Arnoun, Yohmor and Kfar Tebnit.
