Israel strikes southern Lebanon a day after ceasefire extension

Fresh Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon on Thursday, jolting a fragile pause in hostilities just one day after Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to prolong their truce.

“The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in several areas in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said at least five villages in the south were struck, after residents fled toward the southern city of Sidon and the capital, Beirut.

Earlier, the Israeli military had warned people in nine villages across the Sidon and Nabatieh regions to evacuate before the strikes began.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and rejects the negotiations, has kept up its claims of attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, parts of which remain under Israeli occupation, despite the ceasefire that took effect on 17 April.

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Even so, Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Wednesday hailed the 45-day extension of the truce with Israel.

“The extension of the ceasefire and the establishment of a US-facilitated security track provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability,” it said in a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since the war began have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including more than 400 since the truce came into force.

The Israeli military has also said 19 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since the fighting with Hezbollah broke out.

Lebanon was pulled into the wider Middle East war on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.