Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon
- Last updated: January 6, 2026 | 11:04 ..
Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country's third-largest city.
A strike around 1am on Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming group Hizbollah in areas along the border with Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement Tuesday condemned the attacks as counter to both international efforts to deescalate hostilities and Lebanon’s efforts to extend the government's authority into areas long dominated by Hizbollah and to disarm fighters.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene in Sidon said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.
At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but no deaths have been reported.
Israel's military said Tuesday they targeted weapons storage sites and infrastructure belonging to the groups Hizbollah and Hamas. They acknowledged the sites were located in civilian areas but blamed the groups for operating there.
The strikes were the latest in near-daily Israeli military action since a ceasefire signed more than a year ago that included a Lebanese pledge to disarm groups, which Israel says has not been fulfilled.
They took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.
The areas were evacuated after Israel's warning. There were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hizbollah members.
The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel - known as the south Litani area - will be clear of Hizbollah’s armed presence.
The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hizbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.
The disarmament of Hizbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hizbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.
The latest Israel-Hizbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hizbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hizbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.
Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hizbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Associated Press