The IDF carried out a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Thursday. They were an escalation of pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm the terrorist group if it remains intransigent.
The IDF has continued striking Hezbollah, sometimes several times a week, throughout the period following the November 2024 ceasefire between the sides.
For the most part, these have been one-off strikes against one or a few Hezbollah terrorists in an open area, with fewer wider consequences for Lebanese villages.
In contrast, on Thursday, the IAF attacked Radwan Force weapons storage facilities within several Lebanese villages directly, including issuing three separate warnings to civilians in those villages to evacuate prior to the airstrikes.
According to IDF sources, Thursday’s attacks were not a prelude to returning to war, but they represent a different level of significance both to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government.
The airstrikes are intended to roll back progress Hezbollah has started to make in recent months in rebuilding its fighting capabilities, which could threaten Israel, and to pressure all parties in Lebanon to follow through on disarming Hezbollah, the sources said.
Maj.-Gen. Rafi Milo, the head of IDF Northern Command, on Thursday told regional leaders in the North: “We know we need to be determined to attack, to strike, and to destroy to keep Hezbollah weak.”
Optimism towards Hezbollah's disarmament has dwindled
Following the IDF’s pummeling of Hezbollah into a ceasefire mostly on Israeli terms last November, and after the election of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun this past January, there was optimism that real progress would be made toward disarming Hezbollah. But much of that optimism has dwindled due to the terrorist group’s resistance to the idea.
On Thursday, Hezbollah signaled its defiance regarding Israel’s attacks and the Lebanese government negotiating with Israel over the future security realities confronting the sides.
A major goal of Hezbollah and the Lebanese government is to get Israel to withdraw from the five outposts it established close to the border as it withdrew most of its forces from Lebanon in February. That followed a broad invasion of Lebanon last September.
Israel has said it is reluctant to carry out any further withdrawals if Hezbollah is not disarmed or at least does not freeze its ongoing efforts to replenish its military capabilities.
Without increasing its capabilities, Hezbollah did finish the war with Israel still holding on to tens of thousands of rockets. But this paled compared with its prewar arsenal of 150,000 rockets and many more such missiles of higher quality.
According to the IDF, the first site it struck at Tyre belonged to Hezbollah’s Construction Unit. It was used to manufacture equipment used by the terrorist group to rebuild its infrastructure that had been previously targeted and dismantled during the war, it said.
“These actions of Hezbollah terrorists at the infrastructure site constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF said.
The strike, which took place in the South Lebanon Governorate, was the latest in a series of preemptive Israeli actions designed to prevent Hezbollah from rehabilitating the extensive infrastructure damaged during recent hostilities.
According to the US Treasury Department, the Construction Unit, or Jihad al-Binaa, is a key component of Hezbollah’s military-industrial complex, often operating under a civilian facade while simultaneously developing and restoring military and logistical assets, including the tunnel networks.
The repeated targeting of such sites, including construction materials and engineering equipment, underscores Israel’s commitment to disrupting the group’s attempts to solidify its presence south of the Litani River.
Israel continues to maintain high pressure as Hezbollah pivots its focus toward its weapons production and repairing its military network, often leveraging civilian infrastructure as a cover. The IDF frequently highlights the practice as endangering the Lebanese civilian population.
Last week, Aoun instructed the army to confront any Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon after, Reuters reported.
“Israeli forces crossed the border overnight and killed a municipal employee, despite a US-brokered ceasefire,” the report said.
Israel disputes some of the circumstances of that incident but said it is investigating it, signaling that the IDF believes its forces may have made errors.
Whether Aoun truly means to respond to the IDF’s airstrikes against Hezbollah, or whether he only meant actions by ground troops or was bluffing, remains to be seen.
On Thursday, UNIFIL said: “UNIFIL peacekeepers said they had observed multiple Israeli airstrikes in Tayr Dibbah, Taibe, and Ayta al Jabal, within our area of operations in south Lebanon.
“These airstrikes constitute clear violations of Security Council Resolution 1701. They come as the Lebanese Armed Forces are undertaking operations to control unauthorized weapons and infrastructure in the south Litani area. Any military action, especially on such a destructive scale, threatens the safety of civilians and undermines the progress being made toward a political and diplomatic solution.
“Peacekeepers continue to support both Lebanon and Israel in their implementation of Resolution 1701 and are on the ground with Lebanese soldiers, working to restore stability in south Lebanon.
“We call on Israel to immediately cease these attacks and all violations of resolution 1701. Likewise, we urge Lebanese actors to refrain from any response that could inflame the situation further. Both Lebanon and Israel must adhere to their obligations under Resolution 1701 and to the understanding reached in November to avoid putting the current hard-won progress at risk,” UNIFIL said.
TPS-IL and Reuters contributed to this report.