Israel yesterday carried out deadly strikes in south Lebanon, and Hezbollah maintained it had the right to respond, hours after the US announced a renewed ceasefire in fighting.
US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian this week signed a preliminary agreement to halt the Middle East war on all fronts, including Lebanon — a key demand of Tehran’s.
However, follow-up talks scheduled for Friday in Switzerland were indefinitely postponed as Israel launched a wave of strikes in Lebanon that left dozens of people dead after four of its soldiers were killed in combat, sparking a furious reaction at home.
Photo: Reuters
On Friday afternoon, a US official announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brokered by US and Qatari mediators, with Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter saying it would respect the truce if Hezbollah did.
However, yesterday an Israeli military official said it was conducting fresh attacks against the Iran-backed group, which it accused of having “launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon” overnight.
Hezbollah had not officially claimed any attacks on Israel or its troops in Lebanon since the ceasefire was announced.
Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on about 20 locations, with the country’s civil defense agency saying 16 people were killed in the Nabatieh area.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said yesterday that his group insisted “that the enemy fully and comprehensively respects the ceasefire.”
“The resistance has the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us, as it is the aggressor and the occupier,” he added.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military official cited by public broadcaster Kansimilarly described his country’s approach to the truce as being “on the basis of fire being answered with fire.”
Lebanese authorities reported 47 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Friday, the highest toll since the US and Iran struck their deal to stop the wider regional war. Hezbollah had pulled Lebanon into the conflict in early March when it fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of then-Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
A previous ceasefire meant to take effect in Lebanon in April was never honored, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s violations.
In a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed “the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease,” his office said.
Rubio insisted on the importance of Lebanon carrying through on its efforts to disarm Hezbollah and “re-establish control over all Lebanese territory,” according to the US Department of State.
Israel and Lebanon, which have no official diplomatic ties, have held multiple rounds of US-mediated direct talks in Washington, with another scheduled next week, Rubio said.
Meanwhile, talks that were scheduled to take place between the US and Iran in Switzerland to build on the preliminary deal and work toward a lasting settlement in the wider Middle East war were postponed on Friday, with no new date announced.
US Vice President J.D. Vance had been expected to represent the US side, but put off his trip.
Instead, US envoy Steve Witkoff headed to Switzerland to get the talks back on track, US media outlets reported, with fellow Trump emissary Jared Kushner also expected there.
In parallel, mediator Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Iran yesterday for meetings with officials including Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had said the visit was “part of Pakistan’s efforts regarding the Iran-US negotiations.”