Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after the bombings, ‘We will continue to enforce the cease-fire rules without any compromises.’
Israel bombed several sites in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon on Thursday, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying it was targeting underground facilities used by Hezbollah to produce drones.
In a statement posted on Friday to social media platform X, the IDF said it had precisely struck sites used to produce and store unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Dahieh and southern Lebanon.
It was the first time in more than a month that Israel had struck Beirut, and only the fourth time since a cease-fire paused fighting with Hezbollah in November.
The IDF said Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has launched more than 1,000 drones toward Israel during the war.
“These sites, used to produce & store drones for terror, were embedded in civilian areas—another example of Hezbollah’s cynical use of civilians as human shields. Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians,” the IDF said.
The IDF said Hezbollah’s activities at the sites were a blatant violation of the cease-fire agreement.
Katz Congratulates Air Force
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorized the airstrikes.
“Congratulations to the air force for the flawless execution,” Katz said. “We will continue to enforce the terms of the cease-fire without compromise and will not allow any entity to create threats against northern communities or the citizens of the State of Israel.”
He also said he held the Lebanese government directly responsible for preventing violations of the cease-fire.
When the cease-fire came into operation on Nov. 27, 2024, the Lebanese government committed its army to continue the work of destroying Hezbollah’s fortifications near the Israeli border, including tunnels meant to enable a cross-border attack.
Lebanese President Criticizes Israel
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli air strikes.
In a statement, Aoun called them a “blatant violation of an international agreement, as well as the basic principles of international and humanitarian laws and resolutions, on the eve of a sacred religious occasion.”
He accused Israel of rejecting “the requirements of stability, settlement and just peace in our region.”
Hezbollah, which is one of Iran’s proxies in the region, began launching drones and missiles toward Israel shortly after its ally Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages into the Gaza Strip.
On Oct. 8, 2023, senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine gave a speech in Dahieh, where, referring to the Palestinians in Gaza, he said, “Our history, our guns and our rockets are with you.”
Safieddine was killed in October 2024 by an Israeli strike on Dahieh.
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Sept. 27, 2024, and was eventually succeeded by Naim Qassem.
On April 18, Qassem made a speech in which he said Hezbollah would not disarm its troops until Israeli troops left southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force stopped violating Lebanese airspace.
Netanyahu ‘Activates’ Palestinian Groups
In a separate development, Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel had “activated” some Palestinian groups in Gaza who were opposed to Hamas.
In a video posted on X, Netanyahu said the government had made the move on the advice of security officials.
His comments on social media were the first public acknowledgment of Israel’s backing of armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Israeli media identified the Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab—a clan leader in the city of Rafah—as being the recipient of Israeli support.
According to The Times of Israel, former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, said, “The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister.”
Lawmaker Yair Lapid, a former Israeli prime minister who leads the Yesh Atid party, said in a statement on X that weapons that enter Gaza “will ultimately be turned against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.”
An account purporting to belong to Shabab stated on X on Friday: “The Israeli media has confronted us with false claims alleging that our popular forces received weapons from the occupation.
“We reject this accusation entirely and in detail, and we consider it a blatant attempt to tarnish the image of a popular force born from the womb of suffering, standing against injustice, plunder, and corruption.”
The Epoch Times cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the account.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
