Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon Video

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) carried out strikes on multiple Hezbollah militant infrastructures and a rocket launcher in southern Lebanon on August 28.

“The presence of the terrorist infrastructures and the launcher constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement.

The military added that it “will continue to operate to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel.”

To recall, Lebanon will present a plan on August 31 aimed at persuading Hezbollah to disarm, with Israel expected to submit a corresponding framework for its military withdrawal, top U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack said on August 26.

Speaking after talks with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the Lebanese proposal would not involve military coercion but would focus on efforts to encourage Hezbollah to surrender its weapons, including addressing the economic impact on fighters funded by Iran.

"The Lebanese army and government are not talking about going to war. They are talking about how to convince Hezbollah to give up those arms," Barrack said.

A move this month by the Lebanese cabinet to task the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms has outraged Hezbollah, which says such calls serve Israel.

Israel signalled on August 25 that it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if Lebanon's armed forces took action to disarm the Iran-backed group.

By Aghakazim Guliyev