At least 13 people, including four women and a child, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Another 32 people were wounded in the attacks on Friday.
Eight people, including two women and a child, were killed in Haboush in the Nabatieh district, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had previously issued an evacuation order. Four people, including two women, were killed in Zrarieh in the Sidon district, and one person was killed in Ain Baal in the Tyre district.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues despite a three-week ceasefire extension. On Saturday, the Iran-backed group Hezbollah claimed it had targeted Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in Lebanon.
The Israeli military confirmed that one of its soldiers was killed during combat in southern Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the total number of Israeli troop deaths since early March to 17.
In a separate development, the Lebanese army reported that its Chief of Staff, Gen. Rudolph Heickl, met with US Gen. Joseph Clearfield at the Beirut air base. Clearfield heads a committee monitoring the US-backed ceasefire. The talks reportedly “emphasized the importance of the army’s role and the necessity of supporting it amid the current phase.”
An initial 10-day pause in hostilities was announced on April 16 following ambassador-level talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon. The two countries have no diplomatic relations, and the meeting was the first high-level talks since 1993.
US President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension to the ceasefire on April 23, claiming the second meeting “went very well” and that the US would work with Lebanon “to help it protect itself from Hezbollah.”
The Iran-backed group was not party to the ceasefire agreement but had indicated it would abide by its terms if Israel did as well. While the truce largely halted strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs, fighting has persisted elsewhere in the south, with continued air raids and evacuation orders.
On April 30, the US embassy in Beirut suggested that a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would give Lebanon “the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support.”
The Lebanese president met with US Ambassador Michael Issa on Friday, who affirmed continued US support. Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire ending a previous conflict in November 2024, after which Israel carried out near-daily attacks on alleged Hezbollah-linked targets.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and killed Iran’s supreme leader, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel on March 2 in retaliation. In response, Israel bombarded Lebanon with airstrikes and re-entered southern Lebanon in early March, destroying villages and occupying 10 km (6.2 miles) of Lebanese territory.
Since early March, 2,659 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 103 health care workers, according to the Lebanese health ministry. In Israel, two civilians and 17 soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah attacks. On Saturday morning, the IDF claimed it had carried out “around 50 strikes in the last day” on southern Lebanon.
Source: www.bbc.com