Lebanese President Joseph Aoun blasts Israel’s ‘policy of systematic aggression’ that directly targets civilians in Lebanon.

Israel said it attacked four crossing points on the Syria-Lebanon border, saying they were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, following earlier attacks on southern Lebanon that killed at least two people and injured almost 20.

The latest Israeli violence on Wednesday comes despite a US-brokered ceasefire, which ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in 2024 and which Israel has repeatedly violated.

“Once again, Israel is pursuing a policy of systematic aggression by carrying out air strikes on inhabited Lebanese villages, in a dangerous escalation that directly targets civilians,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement late on Wednesday.

“This repeated aggressive behaviour reaffirms Israel’s refusal to abide by its obligations arising from the cessation of hostilities agreement,” President Aoun said.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 19 people were wounded in Israeli air strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Qanarit.

The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes bombed buildings in several south Lebanon villages and towns, including al-Kharayeb, al-Ansar, Qanarit, Kfour and Jarjouh, after the Israeli army issued warnings that it would carry out attacks on targets inside the country.

Earlier in the day, the Health Ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, killed one person. The ministry also said that an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazuriyeh in the Tyre district killed another person.

The AFP news agency said its correspondent reported seeing a charred car on a main road in Sidon with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance. A photographer with the agency was also slightly wounded along with two other journalists who were working near the site of a heavy Israeli strike in Qanarit, where 19 people were injured.

The Israeli military said on social media that it targeted four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used for “weapons transfer” and that it had also “eliminated” a “key Hezbollah weapons smuggler” in the Sidon area of southern Lebanon.

A Lebanese army statement decried the Israeli attacks that targeted “civilian buildings and homes” in a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty” and the ceasefire deal.

The Lebanese military also said such attacks “hinder the army’s efforts” to complete the disarmament plan for Hezbollah, which was part of the ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons amid the ongoing Israeli attacks, which have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon despite the ceasefire signed in November 2024, according to a tally of casualties from AFP.