1st LD Writethru: Netanyahu orders military to "forcefully" strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to forcefully strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, according to a statement issued by his office on Saturday evening.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that it had killed more than 15 Hezbollah militants over the weekend.

In another statement, the IDF said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure used for military purposes across southern Lebanon earlier Saturday, and will continue to operate decisively against threats in accordance with directives from the political echelon.

According to the local news website Lebanon Debate, one person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Hadatha in southern Lebanon on Saturday night.

Earlier in the day, Israeli aircraft struck Hadatha twice within less than 10 minutes.

Israeli warplanes also carried out airstrikes on the village of Zebqine, the town of Bazourieh, the town of Al Sultaniyah, and the Dabsha area near a waste treatment facility in Khirbet Selm, Lebanese media reported.

Also in the day, the Israeli army carried out a controlled explosion in the town of Khiam, while reportedly dismantling solar panels and damaging municipal vehicles in the border town of Debel.

On Saturday evening, Israel's state-owned Kan TV News quoted Israeli security officials as saying that they fear the ceasefire with Lebanon could collapse.

The sources added that Israel demands that the United States put pressure on the Lebanese army to act against Hezbollah in areas north of the Israeli-controlled "security strip" in southern Lebanon, which stretches, according to Israeli statements, from the western coast to the Mount Hermon area and the Syrian border in the east.

The violence came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect at midnight between April 16 and 17, following weeks of intensified cross-border fighting linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the current 10-day ceasefire would be extended by three weeks. Enditem