With Lebanon on Edge Over Cease-Fire, Israel Says It Struck Hezbollah Site

The Lebanese Army said on Thursday that it had moved troops into Hezbollah strongholds outside Beirut and in the country’s south and east to pave the way for people to return, while Israel’s military said its fighter jets struck a Hezbollah site in the south and warned Lebanese civilians not to come back to villages near the border yet.

Lebanon was on edge as it entered the second day of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, and it was not immediately clear what impact the strike would have or whether it violated the agreement. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strike.

In the morning, the agreement, which at least temporarily ended Lebanon’s deadliest conflict since the end of its civil war in 1990, appeared to largely be holding. The war forced roughly a quarter of Lebanon’s population to flee their homes, and thousands of them began to make the trek back to their war-ravaged communities, particularly in the south and east, on Wednesday after the U.S.-brokered cease-fire took effect.

The cease-fire agreement calls for a 60-day truce and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, but is less clear about when civilians may be allowed to return home.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said it had opened fire toward people who had arrived in several areas of southern Lebanon because they were violating the agreement. The statement referred to them as “suspects” but did not elaborate on who they were and did not immediately respond to a request for more details.