Lebanon says four killed in Israeli strikes

Beirut: A series of Israeli air strikes killed four people in south and east Lebanon, the health ministry said Friday, referring to strikes that occurred the previous evening.

“The series of strikes launched by the Israeli enemy Thursday evening led to the death of four people,” the Lebanese health ministry said.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it had targeted Hizbollah “infrastructure that was used for producing and storing strategic weapons” in south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described one of the targets as Hizbollah’s “biggest precision missile manufacturing site”.

More than a year of hostilities -- including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hizbollah which largely ended with a November ceasefire -- left the militant group badly weakened. Israel has nonetheless kept up near-daily air strikes in Lebanon despite the ceasefire, and has threatened to continue them until the group has been disarmed.

“Any attempt by the terrorist organisation to recover, re-establish or threaten will be met with relentless intensity,” Katz said on Thursday.

Under the terms of the truce, Hizbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

Israel was meant to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that he was determined to disarm Hizbollah, a step it has come under heavy US pressure to take, despite the group’s protests that doing so would serve Israeli goals.

Hizbollah and Israel fought a two-month war last year that left the group badly weakened, though it retains part of its arsenal.

Israel has kept up its air strikes on Hizbollah targets despite a November ceasefire, and has threatened to continue them until the group has been disarmed.

In a speech on Thursday, Aoun said Beirut was demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”.

Agencies