Israel Steps Up Strikes in South Lebanon, Targeting Both Hamas and Hezbollah
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes following Israeli military’s evacuation orders, in Chehour, southern Lebanon, Nov. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Hankir
The Israeli military stepped up airstrikes in south Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least one person as it pressed a campaign of near-daily attacks which it says is designed to block a military revival by Iran-backed Hezbollah in the border area.
Israel has accused Hezbollah, an internationally designated terrorist organization, of trying to rearm since a US-backed ceasefire halted its war with the Lebanese Islamist group last year. The group says it has abided by requirements for it to end its military presence in the border region near Israel, and for the Lebanese army to deploy there.
On Wednesday, residents fled after Israel issued warnings on social media identifying buildings it planned to strike in four villages in the south, saying it was attacking Hezbollah military infrastructure.
Strikes on the villages – Deir Kifa, Chehour, Aainata and Tayr Filsay – sent thick plumes of smoke into the air.
Earlier in the day, one person was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern village of Al-Tiri, the Lebanese health ministry said. The Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah member who was working to “reestablish Hezbollah’s readiness in the area.”
The operation came one day after Israel on Tuesday carried out one of its deadliest strikes in Lebanon since last year’s war with Hezbollah, killing 13 people in a Palestinian camp near the southern city of Sidon, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The Israeli military said that it struck a compound in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp used by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which is also backed by Iran, to carry out attacks on Israel.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, “the military compound that was attacked was used by the terrorists of the Hamas terrorist organization for training and training in order to plan and execute terrorist plots against IDF forces and the State of Israel.”
The military added that prior to the attack, “measures were taken to reduce the chance of civilian casualties, including the use of precision munitions, aerial observations, and other intelligence.” The statement also said that Israel “is acting against the entrenchment of the Hamas terrorist organization in Lebanon” and wherever it operates.
“Last night we precisely attacked a Hamas facility in Lebanon that was used for training and recruitment, and which was part of a plot to carry out attacks against Israel,” IDF spokesperson Col. Avichai Edrei posted in Arabic on social media on Wednesday. “We attacked the facility, where Hamas has repeatedly called on its ‘youths’ to join its terror ranks. It was not an innocent facility, as the media claimed.”
Hamas said Israel‘s claim was “pure fabrication,” saying there were no military establishments in refugee camps and the site hit was a sports field.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Wednesday that none of the Islamist group‘s members were amongst the dead.
However, the IDF Spokesperson in response published an invitation from Hamas to operatives to come to the site to enlist in the organization.
“We will not allow terror to raise its head again. When we say we will not tolerate any threat on the northern border, we mean all the terrorist groups that operate in the area and plot against our security,” Edrei said in his social media post.
Under the terms of the truce brokered by the US and France, Lebanon‘s armed forces were to confiscate “all unauthorized arms,” beginning in the area south of the Litani River – the zone closest to Israel.
Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem has said the agreement only applies to the area south of the Litani rather than all Lebanon.
Lebanon says Israel has violated the agreement by continuing to occupy positions in Lebanon‘s south.