Israel has launched a fresh wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, hitting at least a dozen targets in what it says is an effort to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities. The Israeli armed forces claim the raids were aimed at areas believed to host the group’s strategic infrastructure, including underground facilities used for command, storage and movement of fighters.

The strikes focused on Iqlim al-Tuffah, a hilly region just north of the Litani River, with impacts reported near the localities of Mahmoudiya and Jabour. This area has long featured in Israel’s threat assessments. Its rugged terrain and proximity to Hezbollah’s heartlands have made it, in Israeli eyes, a convenient place for the group to conceal weapons depots, tunnels and launch sites beyond the immediate border zone.

Iqlim al-Tuffah has been hit repeatedly in past confrontations, reflecting Israel’s belief that Hezbollah has embedded key assets there in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the group’s forces to remain north of the Litani. Hezbollah, for its part, rarely confirms the presence or loss of specific facilities, instead portraying Israeli strikes as indiscriminate attacks on Lebanese territory.

The latest bombardment underscores the fragile nature of the Israel–Lebanon frontier, where tit-for-tat exchanges have become more frequent amid wider regional tensions. Each strike risks escalation: Hezbollah has vowed to respond to what it sees as violations of Lebanese sovereignty, while Israel insists it will continue to act pre-emptively against threats on its northern flank.

For civilians in southern Lebanon, the pattern is depressingly familiar. Periodic bursts of violence disrupt daily life and reinforce a sense that the border is one miscalculation away from a broader conflict—one neither side claims to want, but both continue to prepare for.