IDF postpones planned strike on alleged Hezbollah site as Lebanese army searches it

After Israel issues evacuation warning, Lebanese Armed Forces request via ceasefire mechanism to access building in south Lebanon, leading to rare pausing of declared strike

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday issued a warning to residents of the southern Lebanon town of Yanouh ahead of planned airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure, but postponed the strike after Lebanese troops went to search the site.

For Israel to postpone such a strike after a public warning is rare, though it has on many occasions alerted the ceasefire monitors and then postponed a strike, before ever issuing such a warning.

“The IDF will attack military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization in response to its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, had warned on Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces published a map showing the location of a site that was set to be targeted.

“You are located near buildings used by Hezbollah, and for your own safety you must evacuate them immediately and move at least 300 meters away,” Adraee said.

More than three hours after the warning was issued, however, the target had yet to be hit.

In a statement, Adraee said that after the IDF issued the evacuation warning, the Lebanese army requested, via the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, to “access the site that had been implicated and to address the violation of the agreement.”

“The IDF decided to allow this, and accordingly, the strike was postponed,” Adraee said, adding: “The IDF is continuously monitoring the target and remains in contact with the mechanism.”

Lebanese media reported that United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces were also present at the site.

The strikes would have marked the second Israeli attack within days, after Israel hit what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

Attacks against the terror group have been a frequent occurrence since a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, which called on both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and allowed Israel to respond to immediate threats.

On Friday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji told Al Jazeera that Lebanon has received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a wide-scale military operation against Hezbollah.

Rajji said the Lebanese government is engaged in intensive talks through diplomatic channels aimed at preventing such an operation and ensuring that state personnel and facilities are not targeted.

At the same time, he said Beirut is continuing efforts to negotiate with Hezbollah, seeking to persuade the Iranian-backed terror organization to give up its weapons voluntarily.

Demands for Hezbollah’s disarmament have mounted since the ceasefire’s onset.

Under the terms of the truce, which ended the October 2023-November 2024 conflict between Israel and a badly weakened Hezbollah, the terror group was to be disarmed and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy fully across the country as the Israel Defense Forces withdrew. That disarmament has not yet happened, however, despite Lebanon having drawn up a plan to do so.

Israel has retained troops in the country, and regularly conducts strikes that it says are against Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its strength.

Agencies contributed to this report.