With the ceasefire extension in Lebanon still in place until February 18, Israel continues to violate it on every pretext and often no pretext at all. The multiple violations reported on Friday included airstrikes by Israeli fighter jets in both eastern and northern Lebanon.
In eastern Lebanon, Israeli jets carried out attacks against areas near the Lebanon-Syria border, south of Baalbek. The Lebanon Health Ministry reported two people were killed in the attack, and 10 others wounded.
Details are still emerging about what was actually hit. Israel claims they targeted “underground” Hezbollah infrastructure in the airstrikes, and that all of the attacks in eastern Lebanon were general Hezbollah targets.
Other Israeli airstrikes were reported in the north of Lebanon, once again not far from the Syrian border. The Israeli strikes reportedly targeted a truck hauling scrap metal in the Akkar District, along with the border crossing outside of Hnaider.
These attacks bring the number of Lebanese killed by Israel since the ceasefire began in late November to at least 83. Lebanon reported 15 violations today on Thursday, with Lebanese National News Agency putting the number of Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far at 823.
Hezbollah officials have suggested in recent days that the number of total violations is well in excess of 1,000. It’s not clear how individual violations are counted right now, for instance, whether Israel burning down multiple civilian homes in a village is counted as a single violation or several. Since many of the violations involve mass destruction in occupied territory, that could explain the discrepancy.
