BEIRUT, 19 Sept. - (ANA) - Israel has bombed five towns in southern Lebanon, prompting people to flee on packed roads as Lebanon's President condemned the Israeli "aggression".

 

An air strike hit Mais Al Jabal on Thursday, a border town that was heavily damaged in the war last year between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. Lebanon's Health Ministry said one person was injured.

 

Strikes also hit the towns of Debbin, Burj Qalawiya, Al Shahabiya and Kfar Tibnit. Israel's military issued a warning ahead of the attacks, asking people to move away from targets that it claimed to be Hezbollah infrastructure.

 

Israel has continued to strike southern Lebanon despite a truce signed in November that ended more than a year of hostilities and two months of open war with Hezbollah. It has also maintained troops in five locations in southern Lebanon that it deems strategic.

 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the latest attacks and "the silence of the countries who had sponsored" the ceasefire, which he said "encourages further aggression".

 

"The time has come to put an immediate end to these blatant violations of Lebanon's sovereignty," he said.

 

The Israeli military said it struck several weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force. It said it would "continue to operate to eliminate any threat" to Israel.

 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called for "maximum pressure" on Israel to stop its attacks on his country.

 

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said the Israeli strikes breached Security Council Resolution 1701, which serves as a basis for the November ceasefire. The attacks put the “fragile stability” at risk, Unifil added.

 

“They further undermine civilians’ confidence that a non-violent solution to this conflict is possible,” it said in a statement published on X.

 

The strikes prompted peacekeepers in two positions in Deir Kifa, near Burj Qalawiya, to seek shelter, it said. "The strikes put the lives of Lebanese soldiers, UN peacekeepers and civilians in danger," Unifil added. It also called on the Israeli military to refrain from any further strikes and to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.

 

The strikes came a day after Hezbollah commemorated a year since Israel blew up hundreds of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members, killing dozens and wounding thousands.

 

Israel and Hezbollah had already been engaged in cross-border fighting for nearly a year before the pager attack, which was one of a series of blows that drastically weakened the Iran-backed group.

 

Under US pressure, Beirut has ordered the Lebanese army to draw up a plan to disarm Hezbollah in southern areas near the Israeli border by the end of the year.

 

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said last week that Lebanon's army would fully disarm the Iran-backed group near the border within three months.

 

But the army, which said Thursday's strikes increased the number of Israel's ceasefire violations to 4,500, added that the attacks risk slowing down Hezbollah's disarmament.

 

"These assaults and violations obstruct the army's deployment in the south, and their continuation will hinder the implementation of its plan starting from the area south of the Litani River," the army said in a statement.

 

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said "the renewed Israeli aggression on southern villages will not push our people to surrender or abandon their land".   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/19 September 2025 - - -