Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticized the IDF on Thursday after Israeli soldiers entered the village of Blida in southern Lebanon earlier in the day and killed municipal worker Ibrahim Salameh.
In response, he instructed the Lebanese army to confront any IDF incursion into southern Lebanon.
Israel carries out several targeted airstrikes against Hezbollah operatives almost every week, which Aoun, a moderate, frequently ignores or occasionally gives muted criticism.
Israeli troops entered the border town of Blida around 1:30 a.m. and stormed Town Hall, killing Salameh, who had been sleeping there, Lebanese media outlets reported.
The soldiers withdrew at about 4 a.m., according to the reports.
Salameh was a terrorist and a legitimate target, the IDF insinuated in a bizarre statement.
The IDF’s legal division was probing the incident, the statement added – something that is not necessary unless there is suspicion of wrongdoing by the soldiers.
The troops entered Blida to destroy terrorist infrastructure it had been monitoring, the IDF said. Part of the “terrorist infrastructure” was the municipal building, which was believed to house Hezbollah weapons and other military items, it said.
Upon entering the building, the soldiers saw Salameh. Since he was in a suspected terrorist facility that was doubling as a municipal building, they followed the IDF’s standard arrest procedure, which can include firing at a suspect's legs to prevent him from fleeing, the IDF said.
The troops felt threatened by Salameh, so they employed deadly force in self-defense from an imminent attack, it added.
The statement did not say whether a gun or other weapon was found on Salameh.
IDF says general framework for Lebanon detention was valid
The general framework of sending soldiers into Blida to the structure in question and seeking to arrest Salameh could have been valid, IDF sources said.
If the evidence is shaky regarding how serious and dangerous the structure was, or if it turns out to be weak regarding the soldiers deciding that Salameh presented a threat to them, there could be legal consequences for those involved.
The IDF sources were unclear about how severe the probe into the soldiers’ actions would be.
Last October, The Jerusalem Post visited Blida embedded with IDF forces and witnessed residential homes filled not only with guns but also with military-grade anti-tank missiles, boxes of grenades, and special sharpshooter guns.
Aoun condemned the IDF attack as part of what he called a pattern of Israeli aggression and said it was launched shortly after a meeting of the committee monitoring a cessation of hostilities.
He urged the committee to go beyond recording violations and to press Israel to abide by a November 27, 2024, ceasefire agreement and halt its breaches of Lebanese sovereignty.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the incursion as “a blatant attack on the institutions and sovereignty of the Lebanese state.”
Lebanon’s army deployed to the area but did not provide further details.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was seeking more information on the incident.
Israel says its actions are intended to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military presence in southern Lebanon and its broader rocket arsenal.
These Israeli concerns are not theoretical. After the Second Lebanon War in 2006, UNIFIL committed to preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its rocket arsenal. Hezbollah ignored UNIFIL and eventually increased its rocket arsenal exponentially to more than 150,000.
Because of this clear track record and the current Lebanese government’s ongoing failure to make substantial progress toward Hezbollah’s disarmament, the IDF has said it has no choice but to continue periodic attacks, even if they remain far below the level of its attacks before the ceasefire.
Prior to the ceasefire last November, there were even days where the IDF attacked up to 1,300 targets in one day.
Reuters contributed to this report.