Israel airstrikes kill 5 in northeastern Lebanon, including 4 Hezbollah members

Israeli air force jets perform a display during a demonstration to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel, on the beach front in Tel Aviv, Israel on Thursday, May 8, 2008. (AP / Ariel Schalit)

BEIRUT - Israel launched airstrikes Monday on northeastern Lebanon, killing five people, including four Hezbollah members, according to officials. This comes as global pressure mounts to disarm the Lebanese militant group.

Since Hezbollah and Israel’s monthslong war ended in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November, Israel has struck southern Lebanon almost daily in what they say are attacks to target the Lebanese militant group. The strikes in northeastern Lebanon, near Syria, far from the country’s border with Israel, are rare.

Monday’s strikes hit the fringes of the provinces of Hermel and Bekaa, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, wounding five people.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed four of the five killed were group members.

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Israel’s air force targeted Hezbollah positions and infrastructure, including a training area for the group’s elite Radwan Forces.

The Lebanese government recently backed a plan drafted by the military to gradually disarm the group, but said it opposes any direct confrontation with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has not fired at Israel since November. It maintains it no longer has an armed presence south of the Litani River, but refuses to discuss disarmament until Israel stops its attacks and withdraws from five hilltop points that it captured during the war, which killed some 4,000 people in Lebanon and caused billions of dollars in damage in the Mediterranean country.

Later Monday, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on neighboring Syria’s central province of Homs, according to state media in Syria. It was not immediately clear if the attack on a military post inflicted any casualties.

Shortly before midnight Monday, pro-government media outlets reported more Israeli airstrikes on a military post in the coastal province of Latakia. State news agency, SANA, reported an airstrike in the province without saying what the target was.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Since the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government in early December, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on different parts of Syria destroying much of the assets of the Syrian army.

By Kareem Chehayeb.