Israeli airstrikes hit near Lebanon's southern Litani River

BEIRUT / ISTANBUL

Israeli aircraft launched a strike targeting a cafe near a bridge over the Litani River, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Wednesday.

It added that civil defense teams are working to fill a crater near the Qasimia Bridge caused by the strikes. There was no news of possible casualties.

Israel has been targeting wooden and iron bridges along the river in an effort to isolate areas south of the Litani from those to the north, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent

Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli army announced its intention to target bridges over the river, which in southern Lebanon runs roughly horizontally.

On US-based social media company X, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a “urgent warning” to Lebanese residents in the south about planned attacks on bridges along the river.

He claimed the Hezbollah group is active in the area and transporting fighters under the guise of civilians to southern Lebanon.

Adraee also renewed his warning to residents south of the Zahrani River to evacuate their homes and head north of the river.

Israel expanded its military offensive on Lebanon after Washington and Tel Aviv launched ongoing attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

On March 2, Hezbollah attacked a military site in northern Israel in response to what it described as continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire reached in November 2024, as well as the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

According to Lebanese authorities, the Israeli offensive on Lebanon has killed 912 people, including 111 children and 67 women, and injured 2,221 others, among them 334 children and 375 women, while over a million people have been displaced.

For decades, Israel has occupied Palestinian territories as well as lands in Lebanon and Syria, and it refuses to withdraw from them or allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.