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23-06-2026
BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM: Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed several people amid overnight exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
According to the Lebanese Civil Defense, 16 people were killed and 12 wounded in Israeli attacks on the city of Nabatieh and nearby villages in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military confirmed strikes against what it described as “Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon” after Hezbollah had “launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The fighting continued despite Israel and Hezbollah having agreed to a ceasefire on Friday in an effort to deescalate a conflict that, on the same day alone, killed at least 47 people in Lebanon, as well as four Israeli soldiers.
“The IDF struck dozens of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites & terrorists in southern Lebanon throughout the night,” the Israeli military said in a post on social media on Saturday. Renewed hostilities in Lebanon could complicate the implementation of the agreement signed on Wednesday between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the conflict that began on Feb. 28.
The US-Israeli campaign against Iran immediately heightened tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, with Hezbollah launching rockets toward northern Israel and the IDF responding with military operations inside Lebanese territory.
According to the agreement signed by Washington and Tehran, military operations should cease across all fronts, and Iran has argued that continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon undermine the spirit of the deal.
According to the New York Times, a recent US intelligence assessment concluded that Israel is likely to continue military operations against Hezbollah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces domestic pressure following attacks by the armed group in northern Israel.
US envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly traveled to Switzerland on Friday to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for planned talks between Tehran and Washington. US Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News on Saturday that he may join the talks in Switzerland “as soon as tomorrow.”
The Israeli army said it had struck Hezbollah targets in response to overnight projectile attacks on Israeli troops stationed in Lebanese territory.
“Overnight, the Hezbollah terrorist organization launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. Following the attacks, the IDF has been striking Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon,” an Israeli military official said.
The strikes came after a Hezbollah lawmaker described any ceasefire as “meaningless” while the Israeli army remains in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after 24 hours of intense violence that posed an early challenge to the new agreement between the US and Iran to end their conflict.
A meeting that was scheduled to take place on Friday between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 47 people.
The talks were to have begun in the Swiss village of Obburgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding over Iran’s nuclear program while getting oil traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The MoU called for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned on Friday against any breach of the agreement, threatening a “decisive response … to the enemy”. (Int’l News Desk)
