Beirut/Tel Aviv, Oct 20, (dpa/GNA) – Israel has carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire in place for nearly a year.
The Israeli military said Monday it had targeted Hezbollah’s “terrorist infrastructure” in the Nabatiyeh area, accusing the Iran-backed militia of reorganizing in the south of the country.
“The presence of the terror infrastructure sites and the activity of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” it added.
Under the terms of the ceasefire reached last November, Hezbollah was to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
However, the Israeli military has conducted almost daily strikes across Lebanon in recent weeks, with both sides accusing each other of breaching the truce.
Lebanon’s government has condemned what it called Israel’s “systematic policy” of destruction, accusing it of deliberately striking infrastructure vital to reconstruction.
Following heavy Israeli attacks on a cement factory in southern Lebanon last week, President Joseph Aoun said the repeated Israeli attacks are part “of a systematic policy aimed at destroying productive infrastructure, obstructing economic recovery, and targeting national stability under false security pretexts.”
According to Ali Haidar Khalifeh, managing director of the targeted cement plant in southern Lebnaon, the attack caused losses exceeding $15 million.
“The entire region depends on our production of cement … Israel is simply trying to stop the reconstruction of areas which were badly hit in southern Lebanon, it is a war on reconstruction now,” he told dpa.
The South Lebanon Water Establishment said last week that Israeli strikes also destroyed its main fuel depot, which disrupted water supply to tens of thousands of residents.
Construction equipment and vehicles used for debris removal and rebuilding, have also been targeted multiple times by Israeli strikes.
Residents and lawmakers from southern Lebanon insist that the machines were being used solely for civilian reconstruction projects in towns devastated during last year’s 13-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
GNA