While the truce is only in its second day, Israel and Hezbollah accused each other on Thursday, November 28, of violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army denounces in particular an air strike against a Hezbollah rocket warehouse near Baysariyah, and considers that the Tsahal has “repeatedly violated the agreement” which came into force the day before. Around 5 p.m., the Israeli army admitted to having carried out a strike against an installation of the Shiite movement in the south of the country, the first since the start, the day before, of a still fragile truce.
Thursday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to respond to Lebanon with a threat. “If necessary, I have given instructions” to the Israeli army to carry out, “in the event of a violation of the ceasefire, an intensive war” against Hezbollah, declared the Israeli Prime Minister in an interview with the media Channel 14.
Israeli fire reported throughout the day
“According to information from our correspondent in the South, Mountasser Abdallah, the Israeli army fired artillery shells […] in Kfar Kila, in order to keep away people who were trying to approach the village”, affirmed this morning at 10:26 a.m. the Lebanese daily The Orient-The Day in his live online. A few minutes later, the newspaper reported that “three Israeli artillery shells” had been launched at Rmeich, “damaging a supermarket” without causing any casualties, while Israeli artillery fire reportedly targeted the outskirts of Halta in the sub-region. Hasbaya district, according to the media’s local correspondent.
Throughout the day, other attacks continued to be reported in many localities, in the caza (subdistrict) of Marjeyoun in South Lebanon in particular. “Israeli tanks opened fire Thursday morning on the localities of Markaba, Wazzani Kfarchouba, Khiam, Taybé and the agricultural plains around Marjayoun, in an area located two kilometers from the “blue line” of withdrawal which marks the border between Lebanon and Israel, reported Lebanese security sources,” notes Reuters. In Markaba, artillery fire on the central square left two people injured, according to The Orient-The Day. In the village of Taybé, “ten Israeli artillery shells also fell” according to the media correspondent, who later confirmed the firing of a missile from a drone, injuring three people. Israeli fire was also “continuously heard” in Khiam (still in the Marjeyoun subdistrict), while four artillery shells also hit west of Meis el-Jabal.
Around 4 p.m., “an Israeli drone strike hit the locality of Tebna, between Baïssariyé and Kaakaiyé el-Snoubar, in the caza of Saïda in South Lebanon” north of the Litani River, reports The Orient-The Day. Israeli artillery strikes also reportedly targeted the surroundings of Aïta el-Chaab, Yaroun and Aïtaroun (caza de Bint Jbeil), as well as those of Chebaa (caza de Hasbaya).
Israel and Lebanon accuse each other of violations
In response to the accusations, the Israeli army initially indicated that it had observed “the arrival of suspicious people, traveling in vehicles” in several regions of the South “which is considered a violation of the agreement” of ceasefire. The army then “fired in their direction”. On the X account of the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army Avichay Adraee, the attack on Tebna was thus justified shortly afterwards. “We have identified terrorist activity at a Hezbollah site, which contains medium-range missiles, in South Lebanon,” we can read. “The warplanes have eliminated the threat,” he adds, himself asserting that the Israeli army “defeats any violation of the ceasefire.”
In a “urgent declaration” the Israeli spokesperson later announced a curfew for the second consecutive evening. “Absolutely no travel south of the Litani River from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. tomorrow,” he wrote, urging people already in that area to “not leave their homes.” As soon as it took effect Wednesday morning, tens of thousands of displaced residents rushed to return home to the south, the southern suburbs of Beirut and eastern Lebanon, Hezbollah strongholds. Hassan Fadlallah, Hezbollah deputy in the Lebanese Parliament, said Thursday after a session in Parliament that “the Israeli enemy attacks those who return to border villages.”