Israel Strikes Hezbollah Weapons Depots as UN Plans Lebanon Drawdown

The Israeli military said it struck weapons storage sites used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Sunday, marking the latest flare-up along a tense border nearly a year after a ceasefire ended major fighting. The strikes, carried out near the southern towns of Kfar Rumman, Jarmak and Humin, come as Lebanon and international actors press a plan to remove heavy arms from nonstate groups and prepare for a phased withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers.

An Israeli military statement said its forces targeted weapon depots it identified as being used to stage attacks against Israel. Lebanese state media and local reports described a series of air strikes and a drone strike hitting a home in Humin, but there were no immediate independent confirmations of casualties. The strikes punctuate a fragile postwar environment in which limited Israeli pullbacks and recurring violations of the ceasefire have been reported.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has patrolled the frontier since 1978, is due to be scaled back after the Security Council extended its mandate only until the end of 2026. The UN plans a one year withdrawal thereafter so that, by 2027, the Lebanese state...