Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemns Israeli attacks, says ‘all ceasefire violations must end’.
Israel has launched one of its most intense aerial assaults on southern Lebanon since a truce halted last year’s war with Hezbollah, according to Lebanese officials and the Israeli military.
Air strikes on Thursday targeted several locations across the Nabatieh region, around 12km (7 miles) from the Israeli border. At least one person was killed and eight others injured, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Thick plumes of smoke rose from the bombed hilltops as residents fled the affected areas.
The Israeli army said its warplanes struck a “Hezbollah infrastructure site”, but gave no further details. The claim could not be independently verified.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah, which had previously said it withdrew its fighters from the border following the United States-brokered ceasefire.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said in a short post on X that he was closely monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes hit the region.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks. In a statement on X, he said: “All Israeli violations of UN Resolution 1701 and ceasefire agreements must come to an end. The Lebanese government has not – and will not – stop pushing for Israel’s full withdrawal from our territory.”
الدبشة pic.twitter.com/o54o2MwjX0
— المنشد علي بركات ( حساب جديد) (@AliBarakat2023) May 8, 2025
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Although the truce officially ended hostilities, sporadic cross-border attacks have continued. Israel has regularly broken the truce and carried out air raids across southern Lebanon, also hitting Hezbollah-controlled neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah and other armed groups are not permitted to operate or store weapons south of the Litani River, while Israel is required to withdraw from southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to deploy in the region. However, both sides have accused each other of violating the agreement.
Israel still occupies five strategic hilltops along the border. While rockets have been fired into Israel from Lebanese territory on two separate occasions, Hezbollah has denied involvement.
The recent escalation marks a sharp intensification of the conflict, rooted in Hezbollah’s support for Hamas during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, has maintained that the group no longer keeps weapons in the border zone, in accordance with the truce.