Reuters. The Israeli army struck Qasmiyeh Bridge, which crosses the Litani River in southern Lebanon, on Sunday (March 22), following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
The strike comes after Israel's military was ordered to destroy all bridges over Lebanon's Litani River and to step up the demolition of Lebanese homes near the Israeli border, the country's defense minister said on Sunday.
The Israeli military will control the remaining bridges over Lebanon's Litani River and the area south of the river, Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday (March 24), while addressing the security cabinet at the Kirya headquarters.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Tuesday (March 24) it would fight to prevent Israeli troops from occupying southern Lebanon, calling such a move an "existential threat" to the Lebanese state.
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said any Israeli occupation south of the Litani would be met with resistance. "We have no choice but to confront this aggression and cling to the land," he told Reuters.
His comments were made after Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River to create a "defensive buffer", spelling out for the first time Israel's intent to seize territory amounting to nearly a tenth of Lebanon.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (March 23) Lebanon’s fight against “all those who threaten its security or that of its neighbours” is a “just” effort as he visited an exhibition on the country’s culture in Paris.
The Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River in southern Lebanon was left damaged, after Israel's military said it struck it early on Friday (March 13), claiming it was being used by Hezbollah militants to move between Lebanon's north and south. The military provided no evidence for the claim.
It appeared to be the first time Israel had acknowledged attacking civilian infrastructure during its current military campaign in Lebanon.
Damage was seen at a bridge over the Litani River in the southern Lebanese town of Qasmiyeh on Thursday (March 19), a day after it was hit in an Israeli strike, according to Lebanon's state news agency NNA.
Israeli warplanes began striking bridges over the Litani River that link southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, destroying at least two of them, Lebanese state media said on Wednesday (March 18).
France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa'ar, met in Jerusalem on Friday (March 20), in an unscheduled visit, after the former visited Beirut on Thursday (March 19) as part of efforts to reduce tensions in the region and secure a ceasefire in Lebanon.
