ISRAEL’S air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon yesterday, including in the country’s third-largest city.

A strike at about 1am levelled a three-storey commercial building in Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander was scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks today as counter to both international efforts to de-escalate hostilities and his country’s efforts to extend the government’s authority into areas long dominated by Hezbollah and to disarm militants.

At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but no deaths have been reported.

Israel’s military claimed today that they targeted weapons storage sites and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and Hamas.

They acknowledged the sites were located in civilian areas but carried out the strikes anyway.

The attacks were the latest in near-daily Israeli military action since a ceasefire signed more than a year ago that included a Lebanese pledge to disarm militant groups, which Israel says has not been fulfilled.

They took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on social media that the military would strike targets in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that a home struck in Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

The areas were evacuated after Israel’s warning. There were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh wounded two people.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting on Thursday that will be attended by army commander General Rudolph Haikal.

Monday’s air strikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.