Israeli airstrikes against southern Lebanon continued on Thursday, with two people reported killed in separate strikes. The IDF quickly issued a statement claiming both were Hezbollah operatives, with one promoted all the way to “elite” Radwan commander.
The first strike was against the outskirts of Baraachit, targeting a man operating a bulldozer. This one was the one the IDF declared a commander, without any evidence provided of that identity or why he was just some guy on a bulldozer clearing up rubble from last year’s war.
The other fatal strike was against a motorcyclist in Beit Lif. The claim here was more mundane, that the person was part of a Hezbollah “observation” unit, though again it came with no evidence provided.
Israel tends to strike functional vehicles in southern Lebanon, which are often motorcycles that they missed during the war or bulldozers simply clearing up the ruins of the conflict and revitalizing the farmland. When Israel does comment, it’s a dubious claim of a Hezbollah man targeted, often with the claim that his very presence was a violation of the ceasefire.
Hezbollah has not fired anything at Israel since the November ceasefire began, while Israel has carried out thousands of strikes, and it seems likely that the attacks are about to escalate, with Israeli media saying they are able to focus on Hezbollah after the Iran ceasefire.
In practice, Israel never stopped attacking Lebanon during the weeks they were also attacking Iran, at most it went a couple of days without a deadly strike reported. Now it seems that they’re simply escalating even further, and using the Iran ceasefire they’re liable to ultimately ignore as an excuse to launch attacks on Lebanon even more, despite that ceasefire.
On Tuesday, Israel killed three people from the same family in Kfar Dajal, including a money changer. The IDF didn’t comment on Tuesday about it, but has since claimed the money changer was a “financier” for Hezbollah and/or Iran.
There were also reports of Israeli strikes around Jabal Blat, though no casualties have been reported there. The missiles hit a building, according to reports.
