Beirut [c], January 16: Israel's military has carried out an attack on a village in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, local media outlets are reporting, amid growing concerns of a wider Israeli escalation as the government pushes for the disarmament of Lebanese group Hezbollah.
In a social media post on Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee told residents of the village of Sohmor to leave their homes ahead of a planned strike on a building he claimed contained "Hezbollah military infrastructure".
The Israeli military later said it was attacking several "Hezbollah targets" across Lebanon, without specifying where exactly the strikes were being carried out.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV said the Israeli army had targeted two residential buildings in Sohmor.
Israel has launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that came into force in late 2024.
Those attacks have ramped up in recent months as Israel and its main ally, the United States, have been pushing the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.
Later on Thursday, the Israeli army issued another evacuation threat for residents of the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara, west of Sohmor, saying it planned to attack "Hezbollah infrastructure" there.
Last week, the Lebanese military said the first phase of its plan is to bring all the weapons held by non-state actors between the Litani River and the Israeli border, in southern Lebanon, under its control.
The army said on January 8 that it had established a state monopoly on arms in the south in an "effective and tangible way", without specifically mentioning Hezbollah.
The Lebanese cabinet, meanwhile, has asked the army to brief it early next month on how it would pursue disarmament in other parts of the country.
A senior Hezbollah official warned the Lebanese government this week, however, that trying to disarm the group across Lebanon would trigger chaos and a possible civil war.
Source: Qatar Tribune
