Israel ramps up Lebanon strikes as Hezbollah vows to defend itself

Hezbollah brands Israel as ‘an enemy that imposes war on our country and does not cease its attacks’.

The Israeli military says it has launched a wave of air strikes targeting what it says are Hezbollah military sites in southern Lebanon as Israel escalates daily attacks on its northern neighbour in flagrant violation of a one-year-old ceasefire.

The barrage on Thursday came soon after a separate Israeli raid targeted southern Lebanon’s Tyre district. The Israeli army claimed it hit members of Hezbollah’s construction unit and that it would “continue to operate in order to remove any threat to the territory of the state of Israel”.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency confirmed Israeli raids near the towns of Toura and Aabbasiyyeh in the Tyre area, and in the southern area of Taybeh but did not report any casualties. In also reported an Israeli warplane flying at a low altitude over Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The attacks come as Hezbollah issued a firm rejection of any political negotiations with Israel, saying such talks would “not serve the national interest”. The statement followed mounting pressure from the United States and Egypt for Lebanon to begin direct dialogue with Israel, the AFP news agency reported. Al Jazeera could not independently verify those claims.

“We reaffirm our legitimate right to defend ourselves against an enemy that imposes war on our country and does not cease its attacks,” Hezbollah said, referring to ongoing Israeli air raids despite a ceasefire agreed to in November 2024.