Israel’s air force struck multiple sites in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in Sidon, according to an Associated Press report. The strikes came ahead of a Lebanese government meeting scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament in areas close to the border with Israel.
A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, AP said. An AP photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and that the building was uninhabited. The report said at least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching for others, but no deaths were reported.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks in a statement Tuesday, AP reported. In the statement, Aoun said the strikes were counter to international efforts to de-escalate hostilities and also counter to Lebanon’s efforts to extend government authority into areas long dominated by Hezbollah and to disarm militants.
Israel’s military said it targeted weapons storage sites and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and Hamas, AP reported. The military acknowledged the sites were located in civilian areas but blamed the groups for operating there.
The report said the strikes were part of near-daily Israeli military action since a ceasefire signed more than a year ago that included a Lebanese pledge to disarm militant groups, which Israel says has not been fulfilled. Israel’s warning activity also preceded the strikes: the report said the strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X about strikes 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, AP reported. The report said al-Sayed was a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024, and it said the areas were evacuated after Israel’s warning. AP reported there were no reports of casualties in those strikes.
Earlier Monday, AP said Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups, AP reported, and the government said that by the end of 2025 the south Litani area would be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence. The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal, AP said.
AP also reported that Monday’s airstrikes were carried out in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel. The disarmament process, the report said, came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the Iran-backed group’s political and military leadership was killed.
The report said the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. It said Israel carried out widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion, and that the war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.
Since the ceasefire, AP reported that Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes, mainly targeting Hezbollah members. AP said Israel has also killed at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The AP report was filed by Bassem Mroue, with contributions from Abby Sewell in Beirut.