Israel’s military launched new air and artillery strikes and demanded the Lebanese government help enforce a November cease-fire with Hezbollah.
Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes across parts of Lebanon in response to rocket launches targeting the Galilee region on March 22.
In a press release, the Israeli military reported its air forces intercepted a trio of rockets that had crossed over from Lebanon into Israeli airspace on Saturday. The Israeli military subsequently announced its forces struck dozens of suspected rocket launchers and a command center it said were operated by terrorist group Hezbollah.
Reports published by Lebanon’s official National News Agency indicated Israeli aircraft and artillery had struck more than a dozen different communities across southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israeli-controlled areas on Oct. 8, 2023, just hours after Hamas launched extensive attacks on Israel’s south. Israeli forces returned fire across the Israel–Lebanon border for nearly a year, before sending ground forces into Lebanon in October of last year.
On Nov. 27, 2024, the Israeli government agreed to enter into a cease-fire, under which its forces would halt strikes on Lebanon and withdraw its ground forces from the country within 60 days. In turn, the Lebanese government agreed to rein in Hezbollah and establish control over its southern border region.
“The rocket fire launched this morning toward the Galilee constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and is a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Israeli military said in a March 22 statement. “The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement.”
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Saturday marks the second instance in which Israel has reported facing rocket fire from Lebanon since the cease-fire went into effect. The last rocket attack took place in December. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have routinely struck targets across Lebanon since the cease-fire deal went into effect in November.
Israeli leaders have also repeatedly extended their troop presence in Lebanon beyond the originally planned 60-day withdrawal deadline on Jan. 26. On Feb. 18, as the second withdrawal deadline came up, Israeli leaders announced their ground forces would remain at five outposts located at key strategic points within Lebanon’s borders.
As the original withdrawal deadline came up in January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said they were still waiting for Hezbollah to fully withdraw north of the Litani River, and for the Lebanese armed forces to finish deploying along the Israel–Lebanon border, as the cease-fire agreement stipulated.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed frustration last month as Israeli forces announced they would remain at outposts inside his country.
“We are working diplomatically to achieve a complete Israeli withdrawal, and I will not accept that a single Israeli remains on Lebanese territory,” Aoun said in a Feb. 18 statement.
Aoun also said Lebanon’s Armed Forces were ready to deploy along the border, to fulfill his country’s cease-fire requirements.
The exchange of fire across the Israel–Lebanon border on Saturday also comes just days after Israeli forces launched a wave of airstrikes and resumed ground operations in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Israel and Hamas had reached a cease-fire in January, under which Hamas had begun to release some of the hostages they had taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, while Israeli ground forces limited their footprint across the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza truce collapsed this month amid disagreements over how to proceed with a three-phased cease-fire framework. Israel had supported extending the first cease-fire phase, but Hamas representatives rejected that idea and demanded all parties proceed to the second phase, wherein Israeli forces would withdraw from the Gaza Strip altogether.
