Israel is once again escalating their airstrikes against Lebanon, with substantial targeting in the eastern Bekaa Valley and continued drone strikes reported against the south. The main target today appears to be Sohmor and the adjacent town of Machgharah.
An evacuation order was issued for Machgharah early on Thursday, with the IDF claiming it would be targeting “Hezbollah infrastructure” in the town. In practice, Sohmor itself seems to have been more heavily targeted so far.
And as is so often the case, the claims of Hezbollah targets don’t line up with the reality of extensive damage in apartment complexes and other residential buildings within Sohmor, which are described to have been the bulk of the targets, and heavily damaged.
Lebanese officials have been deployed to the towns to inspect the damage done by the strikes, though so far there have not been confirmation of any casualties in the attacks, which seem to have just done substantial property damage according to early accounts.
In the south, one drone strike was reported in Kfar Kela, and another on Odaisseh. Two homes in Blida also had Israel drop explosives on them to destroy Internet communications devices that has been installed on them by homeowners. Machine gun fire by the IDF was reported in Markaba and Houla.
All these attacks, as is so often the case, are being presented by the IDF are retaliation for Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire, though in practice Hezbollah hasn’t fired a single rocket at Israel since the ceasefire went into effect. Israel, by contrast, has launched thousands of strikes against Lebanese territory.
