CNN
—

For the first time since a ceasefire took effect last week, Hezbollah fired two projectiles into Israeli-occupied territory, responding to repeated Israeli attacks since the agreement.

Israel has been carrying out daily attacks in Lebanon since Thursday, the day after a ceasefire came into effect. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, one person was killed in a strike in southern Lebanon.

On Monday, Hezbollah fired two projectiles that landed in open areas, according to the Israeli military. Nobody was injured. The military did not provide any information about the type of projectile fired. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the attack was “a serious violation of the ceasefire” and that his country would “respond with force.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday that despite the ceasefire, its own cross-border attacks were “in response to several actions by Hezbollah in Lebanon that posed a threat to Israeli civilians and violated the agreements between Israel and Lebanon.” .” It said military vehicles were attacked at a Hezbollah missile production site in the Beqaa Valley and at tunnels near the Syrian border in northern Lebanon.

Both the U.S. and French governments have warned Israel that they believe the Israeli military has violated the terms of the ceasefire, according to CNN affiliate Kan and Israeli news agency Ynet.

A source at the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said Israel has violated its ceasefire agreement with Lebanon “about 100 times” since the ceasefire came into force last week. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told his French counterpart in a phone call that his country was actually enforcing the ceasefire – which calls for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the Israel-Lebanon border area – rather than violating it, Sa’ar said on X am Monday.

“The presence of Hezbollah operatives south of (Lebanon’s) Litani is a fundamental violation of the agreement and they must move north,” Sa’ar said, adding that Israel is “committed to the successful implementation of the ceasefire agreements.”

Hezbollah said in a statement that it attacked Israeli military positions “in light of the Israeli enemy’s repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.” Hezbollah accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by “firing on civilians and carrying out airstrikes in various parts of Lebanon, resulting in the martyrdom of citizens and injuries to others, in addition to the continued violation of Lebanese airspace by hostile Israeli aircraft, who reached the capital Beirut.” ”

The IDF said the two Hezbollah projectiles were fired at Shebaa Farms, known in Israel as Har Dov (Mount Dov), which is considered occupied Syrian territory under international law. After Syria attacked in 1967, Israel seized the Shebaa Farms and the Golan Heights. The US recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: “Hezbollah’s shelling of the IDF post in Mount Dov will be met with a harsh response. What was will not be.”

“Testing hour,” said Benny Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff who left the government earlier this year. “If we do not respond forcefully against the state of Lebanon, we will return to the era of equations.”

Both sides have accused each other of violations since the early hours of last week’s ceasefire, and escalating tensions threaten to jeopardize the agreement as a whole.

A senior Israeli official said Friday that the military intends to act aggressively and unilaterally against any ceasefire violations by Hezbollah.

Unilateral Israeli military action to enforce the ceasefire is not enshrined in the agreement between Israel and Lebanon, but the US sent Israel a separate letter containing assurances about Israel’s right to act in certain situations, Israeli officials previously told CNN.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday the ceasefire had not been broken. “On the whole, the ceasefire was successful,” he said.

“When there is a ceasefire, of course you see violations of it,” Miller acknowledged. He noted that the United States and France have set up a mechanism “to examine all these reports of ceasefire violations and deal with them through the channels established by the mechanisms, and we will do that in the coming days.”

The State Department official declined to say whether the U.S. had determined the alleged violations were violations, saying work was ongoing. He also declined to comment on reports that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein had addressed violations in a letter to the Israeli government.

The ceasefire agreement calls for a 60-day cessation of hostilities, which negotiators have described as the basis for a permanent ceasefire. During this period, Hezbollah fighters are expected to withdraw about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Israel-Lebanese border, while Israeli ground forces withdraw from Lebanese territory.

The agreement was based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last all-out war between the two countries in 2006, and negotiations focused primarily on enforcing the treaty.

Under the deal, Lebanon would introduce stricter monitoring of Hezbollah’s movements south of the country’s Litani River to prevent militants from regrouping there.

United Nations peacekeepers, the Lebanese military and a multinational committee will be tasked with monitoring the Iranian-backed group’s movements.