BEIRUT: The Israeli military on Thursday launched an attack near Lebanese Civil Defense members recovering bodies from clashes between Hezbollah and Israel by the border, forcing paramedics to leave the area.
A few hours before the attack, the paramedics were subject to Israeli artillery shelling while they were looking for bodies under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Chamaa village.
Several villages in Tyre, which were previously invaded by the Israeli military before the ceasefire agreement took effect on Nov. 27, remain subject to Israeli hostilities under the pretext that the Israeli military has 60 days to withdraw from the area under the ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli forces prevented the area’s residents from returning until further notice and imposed a curfew on those already residing in the region.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health’s statistics, the expanded war resulted in over 4,047 deaths and 16,638 injuries, most of which were recorded during the last weeks as Israeli hostilities escalated in different Lebanese areas.
The Lebanese Civil Defense headed on Thursday morning to three villages that were subject to previous confrontations, using large machinery to continue searching for bodies, most of which were Hezbollah members.
They found nine bodies in Chamaa, six in Al-Bayadah, and one in Naqoura.
A resident of one of the areas that witnessed the confrontations said dozens of Hezbollah members had been killed, and “we were unable to contact them for weeks to avoid revealing their locations.”
The Israeli military continued on Thursday morning to destroy houses and facilities in the border area.
Its attacks included neighborhoods in Yaroun and Bint Jbeil.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that an Israeli infantry force — backed by a bulldozer and Merkava tanks — advanced on Thursday morning to the western side of Shebaa town, where it erected earthen barriers blocking the road linking the border village to the Naqqar Pond front.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab emphasized that Israel’s attacks “are a flagrant violation of the agreement.”
He added: “These attacks are unjustified. The agreement does not allow Israel to do what it is doing.”
Bou Saab said Israel “tries to justify its actions to the international community under the pretext of self-defense, but in reality, these are hostile acts and a breach of the agreement.”
Bou Saab affirmed that the ceasefire “was designed to remain in place and succeed,” adding that “in the coming days, the situation will change ... the committee tasked with monitoring the implementation process will become effective, and violations and attacks on the Lebanese will stop.”
Representatives of the committee tasked with monitoring the ceasefire agreement’s implementation in accordance with UN Resolution 1701 have arrived.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese military redeployed in three locations in Shebaa while consolidating its forces in Tyre over the past two days in preparation for redeployment in the border area following the withdrawal of the Israeli military.
Also on Thursday, the head of the ceasefire monitoring committee, US Gen. Jasper Jeffers, and the accompanying military delegation met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Berri’s media office said the meeting included “a review of the field conditions since the ceasefire took effect and the committee's tasks.”
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati received the French representative, Gen. Guillaume Ponchin, who arrived in Beirut at the head of a military delegation.
Mikati’s media office said he emphasized the Lebanese priorities, which include the cessation of fire, halting Israeli violations, the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Lebanese territories, and strengthening the deployment of the Lebanese military in the south.
The ceasefire monitoring committee is scheduled to hold its first official and operational meeting next Tuesday in Naqoura, a border town that hosts the UNIFIL headquarters.
Representatives from Lebanon, Israel, and UNIFIL will join.
A preliminary meeting of the committee is expected within the next 24 hours.
Lebanon is closely watching the start of the monitoring committee’s work, which relies on halting the Israeli violations, officially recorded as exceeding 100 breaches.
The committee’s work under the agreement will focus on “monitoring the borders and preventing violations, with each party (Lebanon and Israel) reporting any perceived threats to the committee.”
The Lebanese Cabinet is scheduled to hold an exceptional session on Saturday in a military barracks in the southern city of Tyre.
This symbolic step aims to show solidarity with the areas affected by Israeli attacks, including Tyre, which lies just a few kilometers from the confrontation lines with the Israeli military.
The Lebanese Cabinet will hold a special session on Saturday at a military barracks in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre in a symbolic move aimed at expressing solidarity with the areas affected by Israeli attacks, including Tyre, which is just a few kilometers away from the frontlines with the Israeli military.
The session will be attended by Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, who will brief ministers on the army’s deployment plan in the south.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah organized a field tour for media professionals in the south, starting in Chehaybiyeh and its commercial market, followed by Khirbet Selm and Souaneh.
Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said: “The operation carried out by Hezbollah last Monday, which targeted the Israeli Ruwaysat Al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, was a preliminary defensive reminder in response to the attacks and violations carried out by Israel over the past few days.”
He said Israel had left no act undone in its attack on civilian targets.
In Kfarkela, Israeli forces targeted sports facilities, and in Khiam, they continued to destroy homes and demolish roads. They have also demolished places of worship in other areas.
He added: “These practices cannot be seen as adherence to the ceasefire agreement procedures.
“They exceed the agreement, undermining both the established protocols and the credibility of monitoring bodies.”
Fayyad stressed Lebanon’s right to defend itself and the people’s right to respond to these aggressions.
“The goal of the procedures is Israeli withdrawal, not making way to villages that it did not advance toward during the confrontations with the resistance,” he added.
He said that this puts the US “in a position of direct responsibility and full partnership in these violations, which undermine the implementation of the ceasefire procedures and represent a threat to the agreed-upon mechanism.
“We emphasize our commitment to the declaration of the cessation of hostilities stipulated in the paper and Lebanon's right to defend itself.”
Fayyad reaffirmed “the confidence in the important role of the Lebanese military, which is a pillar in protecting national sovereignty and security.
“Coordination and continuous follow-up with the army are ongoing,” he said.
Hezbollah MP Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan emphasized that Hezbollah “remains committed to the cessation of hostilities with Israel and to the agreement.”
Regarding Hezbollah’s strength, Al-Hajj Hassan said that “the party has not weakened, and its will remains strong.
“It has come out of a major aggression; no one could crush it, and it will only grow stronger.
“It is not an organization isolated from its people; It has allies who stood by it during the aggression and a large parliamentary bloc with many allies.”
