Israel carried out a wave of strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon overnight and into Saturday morning, saying that the Israel Defense Forces was targeting Hezbollah after the Iran-backed terror group attacked troops in violation of a day-old ceasefire. Lebanese media and first responders reported at least 27 people killed and 26 wounded in the strikes.

The IDF said it was “committed to the ceasefire agreement in accordance with the directives of the political echelon,” but struck Hezbollah in south Lebanon after the terror group fired “some 50 projectiles at Israeli troops” in separate overnight incidents in the area.

The military did not provide information on casualties from Hezbollah’s attacks, which the IDF said “constitute repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

“The IDF will not accept harm to Israeli civilians and its forces, and will respond forcefully to any use of force against them,” the military said, adding that the Hezbollah targets struck Saturday included rocket launchers, weapon depots and command centers.

Hezbollah also claimed it had “adhered to the ceasefire” since Friday afternoon, but attacked Israeli forces attempting to advance in south Lebanon overnight.

“Hezbollah broke the ceasefire, not Israel,” Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter wrote Saturday on X. “Terrorists lie. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah lies.”

He also said that “Iran is using its proxy to extract concessions” and that “Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon.”

“Israel is honoring the ceasefire while defending itself against terrorist attacks, as any self-respecting country would,” added Leiter, who said there would be “more details to come.”

Israel’s continued strikes in Lebanon have confounded US-Iran peace efforts and elicited unprecedented criticism from the White House.

On Saturday, Lebanese state media said Israeli planes and drones struck across the Nabatieh region overnight and into the morning, destroying residential buildings and houses, while Israeli artillery shelled the city and its outskirts before dawn.

The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed in an Israeli strike on the........

© The Times of Israel