JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it conducted air strikes in Lebanon on Sunday targeting Hezbollah military sites storing weapons including rocket launchers. “A short while ago, the IAF conducted precision, intelligence-based strikes on a number of military sites in Lebanese territory containing rocket launchers and weapons, where Hezbollah activity had been identified,” the military said in a statement, without specifying the exact location of the strikes.

Meanwhile, Lebanese official media said Israeli forces killed a woman in a southern border town on Sunday as residents sought to return home, two days ahead of an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deadline. Lebanon’s army shortly later urged residents against heading to border areas where its forces had not completed deployment.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said that Israeli “occupation forces shot in the direction of Hula neighbourhoods after residents entered, leading to the death of a woman and the wounding of other people”.

“Three citizens were kidnapped by Israeli forces in the town,” the NNA added, after earlier reporting that residents had entered by passing a Lebanese army checkpoint and “dirt barriers set up by the Israeli army”.

Lebanon’s army on X emphasised “the need for citizens not to head towards southern areas where the (Lebanese military) deployment has not been completed... in order to preserve their safety and avoid the death of innocent people”.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025