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Israel's air force attacked multiple Hezbollah and Hamas targets in Lebanon. The strikes come days before Lebanon's army commander is due to brief the government on efforts to disarm Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border.
Lebanon said one of the strikes hit a home in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley. (File Photo: Reuters)
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 6, 2026 06:19 IST
Israel’s air force struck multiple locations in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, saying the areas housed infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and Hamas, as tensions remain high months after a devastating cross-border war.
The strikes came just days before Lebanon’s army commander is due to brief the government on efforts to disarm Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border -- a sensitive process unfolding under pressure from both Israel and the United States, according to the Associated Press.
Nearly two hours before the attacks, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee issued public warnings on X, saying Israeli forces would strike Hezbollah and Hamas targets in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon.
“Any location used for terror activity by Hezbollah or Hamas will be targeted,” the Israeli military said, describing the sites as part of terrorist infrastructure threatening Israel’s security.
Lebanon’s state-run News Agency said one of the strikes hit a home in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley that belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.
Monday’s strikes hit villages north of the Litani River, well beyond the immediate border zone. Lebanese officials have said the government aims to clear all armed Hezbollah presence from the south Litani area by the end of 2025, in line with post-war security arrangements, the Associated Press reported.
The Lebanese army began disarming Palestinian factions last year, but Hezbollah’s arsenal remains the most politically and militarily sensitive issue. The government is set to discuss the matter again on Thursday in a meeting attended by army commander General Rudolph Haikal.
The push to disarm Hezbollah follows a 14-month war between Israel and the Iran-backed group that erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel the following day, prompting months of escalation.
Israel launched a massive air campaign across Lebanon in September 2024, followed by a ground offensive that killed much of Hezbollah’s senior political and military leadership. The conflict ended in November 2024 with a US-brokered ceasefire.
Despite the truce, Israel has carried out near-daily strikes since then. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says at least 127 civilians have been killed in post-ceasefire Israeli attacks.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh on Monday wounded two people. Israel said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
- Ends
With inputs from Associated Press
Published By:
Satyam Singh
Published On:
Jan 6, 2026
