BEIRUT: Overnight Israeli air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon killed two people, the health ministry said on Friday, two months into a fragile ceasefire.
“The strike by the Israeli enemy on Janta killed two people and wounded 10,” the ministry said.
The Israeli military said it struck “multiple” Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa, a stronghold of the militant group with which it fought a war last year.
“The targets that were struck include a Hezbollah terrorist site containing underground infrastructure, used to develop and manufacture weaponry and additional terrorist infrastructure sites on the Syrian-Lebanese border used by Hezbollah to smuggle weaponry into Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The village of Janta area lies close to the Syrian border and the area was already hit by Israeli strikes on January 13.
The overnight strikes came after the Israeli military said it had intercepted a Hezbollah surveillance drone approaching Israeli airspace on Thursday, in a “breach of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.
“The (army) continues to remain committed to the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and will not permit any terrorist activity of this kind,” it said.
The Israeli army missed a January 26 deadline to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon. It now has until February 18.
Israel had made clear it had no intention of meeting the initial deadline, charging that the Lebanese army had not fulfilled its side of the bargain.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south as Hezbollah pulls its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.
The Iran-backed militant group is also required to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.