Fierce Israeli airstrikes target south Lebanon

A series of violent Israeli airstrikes targeted south Lebanon on Thursday afternoon and evening, killing one person and wounding seven others, with media reports describing them as among the fiercest since the November ceasefire.

Israel claimed the evening strikes targeted a cement plant and quarry and a site belonging to an environmental group it accused of being affiliated with Hezbollah.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Hezbollah was using the quarry "with the aim of rebuilding terrorist facilities and infrastructure." A few days earlier, Israel had struck several lots storing bulldozers and excavators, also claiming that the equipment was intended for use by Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the environmental group it targeted, Green Without Borders, "was used by Hezbollah to conceal terrorist activities aimed at rebuilding the organization's infrastructure."

Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and seven people were injured in strikes just outside the towns of Bnaafoul and Ansar. The strikes sparked massive explosions that could be seen and heard in areas far from the targeted site, "causing tremors that sparked panic and tension among citizens," the state-run National News Agency reported.

President Joseph Aoun insisted Israel's strikes targeted "civilian facilities," condemning what he said was a breach of a ceasefire negotiated last year.

"The repeated Israeli aggression comes as part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying productive infrastructure, hindering economic recovery, and undermining national stability under false security pretexts," Aoun said.

Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire, which followed more than a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war.