Israel Strikes Hezbollah And Hamas Targets In Southern And Eastern Lebanon, Hezbollah Clashes In Khiam

Israel carried out strikes on Monday in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media outlet ANI, claiming to target Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, and the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for residents of four villages via its Arabic-language spokesperson on X.

“ANALYSIS How Hezbollah boxed in the Lebanese state, just as Hamas (and Israel) did the Palestinian Authority Because of the party’s intransigence, Lebanon finds itself with its hands tied vis-à-vis Israel, much as the Palestinian Authority has been constrained by Hamas”

L'Orient Today

The ANI reported strikes on buildings in the four targeted localities, and later a new round of strikes without prior warning hit the southern towns of Saksakiyeh and Sarafand, while the four villages targeted on Monday were located north of the Litani.

La Presse

In parallel, Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging in “direct” clashes with the Israeli army in Khiam (Marjeyoun) using light and medium weapons as well as rockets, as described in L'Orient-Le Jour’s live coverage.

L'Orient-Le Jour’s recap also put the broader toll in Lebanon in context, saying “Thirty-one rescuers have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the conflict,” and that “At least 826 dead and 831,882 displaced in Lebanon since the Israeli offensive.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised on X the “efforts” of the Lebanese government and army but said they were “far from sufficient,” while L'Orient-Le Jour’s live coverage also reported that the Israeli army accused Hezbollah of transporting weapons in “civilian trucks.”

In the same live coverage, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO had verified the deaths of 12 doctors, rescue workers, and nurses in an Israeli strike targeting the primary health care center of Bourj Qalaouiyé (Bint Jbeil), writing: “The 14 health workers killed in the last 24 hours in southern Lebanon mark a tragic development in the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East,”.

Le Dauphiné Libéré

L'Orient Today’s analysis framed Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon as boxing in the state, saying “The Lebanese state” is giving way to “the Lebanese Authority,” and it linked that shift to Hezbollah spokesmen describing President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The analysis also drew a parallel to the Palestinian Authority, describing Abbas as “the powerless remnant of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” while it said Hezbollah was using the comparison as Beirut embarked on “historic direct negotiations with Israel.”

La Presse reported that under strong American pressure and with the intensification of Israeli bombardments, Beirut had committed to disarming Hezbollah, and it said the Lebanese army pledged to dismantle by the end of 2025 the movement’s military structures between the Israeli border and the Litani River, about thirty kilometers further north.

“Israel carried out strikes on Monday in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese state media outlet, claiming to target the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas”

La Presse

La Presse added that a government meeting was scheduled for Thursday in Lebanon during which the army was to brief on the situation, and it said that on Wednesday the ceasefire monitoring committee, including Lebanon and Israel as well as the United States, France and the UN, was to hold a meeting.

L'Orient-Le Jour’s live coverage also described a wider diplomatic and security backdrop, noting that Trump claimed Iran is “completely defeated” and that Tehran threatened to “reduce to ashes” oil installations.

In that same recap, it said the Israeli army warned those circulating along Lebanon’s southern coast, and it reported that at least 350 people had been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally based on figures from Lebanon's Ministry of Health.