Israeli warplanes conducted a series of strikes across Lebanon, including a significant attack on the southern port city of Sidon, in the hours leading up to a crucial government meeting on disarming the militant group Hezbollah.
Strikes Target Commercial Hub of Sidon
The most notable attack occurred around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, in Sidon, Lebanon's third-largest city. An Israeli airstrike completely leveled a three-story commercial building located in a district known for workshops and mechanic shops. According to an Associated Press photographer at the scene, the building was uninhabited at the time of the strike.
Rescue teams worked swiftly at the site, searching for possible victims amidst the rubble. At least one person was transported away by ambulance, but Lebanese authorities confirmed there were no immediate reports of fatalities from the Sidon strike. The Israeli military did not immediately issue a statement regarding this specific attack.
Warnings Precede Attacks in Bekaa Valley and South
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military had carried out strikes on several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, claiming they contained infrastructure for Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas. These actions followed a public warning issued nearly two hours prior by Israel's military Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, on the social media platform X.
Adraee warned that targets linked to Hezbollah and Hamas in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon would be struck. The areas were reportedly evacuated following the warning, leading to no casualties from those specific strikes. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency stated that one of the homes hit in the Bekaa village of Manara belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander killed in an Israeli strike in May 2024.
In a separate incident earlier on Monday, a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh wounded two people. The Israeli military stated this strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
Context: Disarmament Talks and Lingering Conflict
These strikes come just days before the Lebanese government is scheduled to receive a briefing from army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal on Thursday regarding the mission to disarm Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel. This process, focusing on the area south of the Litani River, is part of a plan to clear the zone of Hezbollah's armed presence by the end of 2025.
The push for disarmament follows a devastating 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah that began on October 8, 2023. That conflict, which started a day after Hamas's attack on southern Israel, saw Hezbollah fire rockets in solidarity with Hamas. It concluded with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November 2024 after a widespread Israeli bombardment and ground invasion severely weakened the Iran-backed group.
Despite the ceasefire, tensions remain high. Israel has continued near-daily airstrikes, primarily targeting Hezbollah members. According to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, these ongoing strikes have killed at least 127 civilians since the war's formal end. The latest attacks, extending north of the Litani River and into major cities like Sidon, signal a potentially dangerous escalation as diplomatic efforts around disarmament proceed.
