Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon ahead of a key disarmament
meeting
[January 06, 2026]
By BASSEM MROUE and MOHAMMED ZAATARI
SIDON, Lebanon (AP) — Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and
eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country's
third-largest city.
A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building
in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army
commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of
disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with
Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement Tuesday condemned the
attacks as counter to both international efforts to deescalate
hostilities and Lebanon’s efforts to extend the government's authority
into areas long dominated by Hezbollah and to disarm militants.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene in Sidon said the area was
in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the
building was uninhabited.
At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were
searching the site for others, but no deaths have been reported.
Israel's military said Tuesday they targeted weapons storage sites and
infrastructure belonging to the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
They acknowledged the sites were located in civilian areas but blamed
the groups for operating there.
The strikes were the latest in near-daily Israeli military action since
a ceasefire signed more than a year ago that included a Lebanese pledge
to disarm militant groups, which Israel says has not been fulfilled.
They took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language
spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would
strike targets in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two
others in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the
village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a
Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in
May 2024.
The areas were evacuated after Israel's warning. There were no reports
of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health
Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh
earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike
targeted two Hezbollah members.
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People check a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli
airstrike at a commercial district in the southern port city of
Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of
Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of
2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the
south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.
The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s
disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army
commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and
far from the border with Israel.
The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the
Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and
Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of
the Iran-backed group was killed.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after
Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into
Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread
bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened
Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.
Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly
targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians,
according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights.
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Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in
Beirut contributed to this report.
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