Israeli military attacks villages in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

Israel’s military has carried out attacks on two villages in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, local media outlets are reporting, amid growing concerns of a wider Israeli escalation as the government pushes for the disarmament of Lebanese group Hezbollah.

In social media posts on Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee threatened residents of the neighbouring villages of Sohmor and Mashghara, telling them leave their homes ahead of planned strikes on buildings he claimed contained “Hezbollah infrastructure”.

The Israeli military later said it was attacking several “Hezbollah targets” across Lebanon, without specifying where exactly the strikes were being carried out.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV said the Israeli army had targeted two residential buildings in Sohmor. It later struck two other buildings in Mashghara, Al-Manar said.

Near-daily attacks

Israel has launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that came into force in late 2024.

Those attacks have ramped up in recent months as Israel and its main ally, the United States, have been pushing the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.

Last week, the Lebanese military said the first phase of its plan is to bring all the weapons held by non-state actors between the Litani River and the Israeli border, in southern Lebanon, under its control.

The army said on January 8 that it had established a state monopoly on arms in the south in an “effective and tangible way”, without specifically mentioning Hezbollah.

The Lebanese cabinet, meanwhile, has asked the army to brief it early next month on how it would pursue disarmament in other parts of the country.

A senior Hezbollah official warned the Lebanese government this week, however, that trying to disarm the group across Lebanon would trigger chaos and a possible civil war.

Hezbollah has insisted that the disarmament push only applies to the southernmost region of Lebanon that borders Israel, refusing to relinquish its weapons elsewhere.

In an interview with Russian state media outlet RT, senior Hezbollah political official Mahmoud Qmati said on Wednesday that pursuing a state monopoly on arms further north would be “the biggest crime committed by the state”.

“The path taken by the Lebanese government and state institutions will lead Lebanon to instability, chaos and perhaps even civil war,” Qmati said, though he added that Hezbollah would not be dragged into a confrontation with Lebanon’s army.

‘No talk or dialogue’

Hezbollah has argued that it must retain its weapons in order to deter Israel from occupying additional territories in southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army is ill-equipped to respond.

Israel has maintained troops in five areas of southern Lebanon, in violation of the 2024 truce.

“There will be no talk or dialogue about any situation north of the Litani River before Israel withdraws from all Lebanese territory, liberates the south and the prisoners, and stops its violations against Lebanon,” said Qmati, the Hezbollah official.

Reporting from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Thursday, media’s Zeina Khodr explained that by targeting areas north of the Litani River for attack, the Israeli military is signalling that it has “shifted to phase two of the disarmament plan”.

But the Lebanese army has said “it needs time to put a plan together and that it will present it to the government next month”, Khodr said.

“Lebanese army sources [are] saying that this is very challenging, especially if Hezbollah refuses to cooperate with the army. And Hezbollah [is] making clear it will not cooperate with the army,” she explained.