Israeli strikes pummel south Lebanon hilltops

BEIRUT (Reuters) -More than a dozen Israeli air strikes battered a row of hilltops in southern Lebanon on Friday, security sources said, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked a damaged military site that armed group Hezbollah was seeking to restore.

The simultaneous strikes hit a mountainous strip near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, according to the Lebanese security sources, who said Hezbollah likely still had arms depots there. There was no immediate comment from the group.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked a site used to manage Hezbollah's "fire and defense system". It said the site was destroyed in last year's war but that Hezbollah was attempting to resume activities there in breach of the November truce that ended the conflict.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun on Friday fired the same accusation back at Israel, saying it was continually violating the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal by keeping up strikes on Lebanon.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of any non-state arms or fighters, Israeli troops must leave southern Lebanon as Lebanese troops deploy there and all fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border must stop.

Israeli troops remain in at least five posts within Lebanese territory and its air force regularly kills rank-and-file Hezbollah members or people affiliated with the group.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Editing by William Maclean)

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