Lebanon Cease-Fire Appears to Hold Despite Israeli Strike

The uneasy truce between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah largely held through its second day in Lebanon on Thursday, although Israel conducted an airstrike that it said targeted militants violating terms of the cease-fire deal.

The Israeli strike was the first of its kind since the U.S.-backed cease-fire went into effect before dawn on Wednesday. But despite an exchange of blame between two parties of the deal — Israel and Lebanon — neither of the war’s combatants, Israel or Hezbollah, seemed keen to immediately return to full-scale fighting.

The Israeli military said its airstrike, near the border in southern Lebanon, had targeted two militants arriving at a Hezbollah rocket facility that had been used to fire into Israel. Lebanon’s army, which is set to play a major role in enforcing the truce, accused Israel of violating the cease-fire “several times” on Thursday afternoon. Hezbollah did not immediately comment.

The Israeli military also said its soldiers had stopped militants from advancing into southern Lebanon. “With the same power we used to secure the agreement, we will now enforce it no less so,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the military’s chief of staff, said in a video statement on Thursday. He added that Israel would respond to any deviations from the agreement “with fire.”

But after months of fighter jets and rockets in the skies and explosions erupting on the ground, quiet reigned over much of Lebanon and northern Israel on Thursday.