Israel's military on Wednesday said its troops pressed further into south Lebanon to carry out ground operations to dismantle alleged Hezbollah infrastructure, before retreating.
The Israel military already occupies five points of Lebanese territory along the border, but the latest operations took place outside of those areas.
Soldiers from the 300th Brigade found an alleged Hezbollah compound containing weapons and firing positions on the Jabal Blat ridge, which were later destroyed, the Israeli military said.
In another operation, members of the 9th Brigade found and confiscated a multi-barrel launcher, a heavy machinegun and dozens of explosive devices hidden in thicketed terrain in the Labbouneh area which they confiscated, it said.
“In the area, an underground structure used for storing weapons was located, and the infrastructure was dismantled in an engineering operation by the brigade's troops,” it added.
It was unclear when the operations took place but the announcement was made on Wednesday.
In addition to the continued presence of its troops in Lebanon, the Israeli military conducts near-daily air strikes on people and sites allegedly linked to Hezbollah in the south and other areas. It has also struck Beirut several times since the ceasefire agreement was sealed.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, on Wednesday denied that any of its members were hit in an Israeli strike on the city of Tripoli.
Three people were killed and at least 10 wounded in the rare attack in northern Lebanon on Tuesday. Israel claimed it was aimed at a Hamas official.
“There was no targeting of any Hamas official in the assassination that took place in Tripoli,” a Hamas official based in Beirut said.
“The Israeli narrative is completely false regarding the targeting of any of our members,” he told The National.
Hezbollah was severely weakened during a year-long war with Israel that ended with a ceasefire in November. Israel’s military campaign destroyed much of the group’s infrastructure and killed its top leaders and senior commanders.
Under the terms of a ceasefire, Hezbollah must pull all military equipment and fighters out of southern Lebanon, and all non-state militant groups must be disarmed across the country.
Lebanon is under pressure externally and internally to disarm these groups, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions that have a presence in the country.
