IDF says it struck Hezbollah training facility, other sites in south Lebanon

Lebanese state media says about a dozen sites targeted, including some north of the Litani River; no casualties reported

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that it carried out a wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah sites, including a training facility used by the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.

It marked the second time in the past week that the IDF has struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.

According to the military, the Radwan Force “training and qualification compound” was used by the terror group to plan and advance attacks against Israel.

In addition, the IDF said it struck other Hezbollah sites in several areas of southern Lebanon.

“Holding military drills and establishing terror infrastructure for activity against Israel constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and a threat to the State of Israel,” the military said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the “heavy raids” on Friday hit around a dozen locations, including some north of the Litani River, which runs about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border with Israel.

There were no reports of casualties in the strikes.

On Tuesday, the IDF said it struck a separate Radwan training site in southern Lebanon, along with other Hezbollah sites.

The US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024 with Hezbollah came after two months of open conflict in south Lebanon, which Israel invaded in a bid to ensure the return home of some 60,000 northerners displaced by Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks. The rocket attacks began on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border.

Since the ceasefire, the IDF said it has killed over 370 Hezbollah operatives in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon. The IDF has recently intensified its attacks, meant to stop the terror group from rebuilding, including killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last month.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes, Hezbollah is under domestic and international pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it.

Lebanon is now under pressure to speed up the process or risk a renewed Israeli military operation. The foreign ministers of Lebanon and Iran are due to meet soon to discuss the issue.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.