Lebanon Reports Israeli Strikes After Ceasefire Announcement
In Washington yesterday, Israel and Lebanon said they had agreed to implement a ceasefire, but only on the condition of a "complete cessation" of fire by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement issued after a fourth...
Fresh hopes for calm on the Israel-Lebanon border were jolted within hours, as Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes in the south despite a newly announced conditional ceasefire reached after talks in Washington.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said drone strikes hit roads in several locations in the south, adding that at least one of the attacks caused casualties.
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Earlier today, the Israeli military said air raid sirens had sounded in northern Israel. It said one alert involved a “suspicious aerial target” that was later dealt with, while a separate incident turned out to be a false alarm.
In Washington yesterday, Israel and Lebanon said they had agreed to implement a ceasefire, but only on the condition of a “complete cessation” of fire by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement issued after a fourth round of US-led talks.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the agreement, describing it as a “serious mistake”.
Before that announcement early today, Hezbollah said it had fired a “salvo of rockets” at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in Qantara in south Lebanon, and launched drones at troops near the strategic Beaufort castle.
An earlier ceasefire intended to stop the fighting in Lebanon was supposed to begin on 17 April, but it has never taken hold, with each side blaming the other for repeated violations.
Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people since Hezbollah drew the country into the wider Middle East war on 2 March by firing rockets into Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
The World Health Organization said last week that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the 17 April truce.
This week, senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told AFP the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire”.
Conditional truce raises hopes for broader deal
The Trump administration said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to move ahead with a ceasefire aimed at ending hostilities, offering a potential lift to wider efforts to secure a broader deal ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Tehran, which had tied any agreement with the US in part to an end to the fighting between Israel and Lebanon, earlier struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens, while the US military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.
The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire depends on a complete halt in fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the withdrawal of all its operatives from the South Litani Sector, according to a joint statement released by the US State Department after negotiations in Washington.
The two sides had already agreed last month to a ceasefire, but the violence continued.
Delegations from Israel and Iran during talks in Washington
Israel invaded Lebanon in March in pursuit of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which had fired across the border in support of Tehran.
The attacks on Kuwait and around the Strait of Hormuz are the latest blows to a fragile ceasefire involving the US, Israel and Iran. They pushed oil prices up nearly 2%, with the waterway still largely closed more than three months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, according to Kuwaiti authorities and state media.
Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed services after safety measures were put in place, the civil aviation authority said.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not target Kuwait’s airport and instead blamed the damage on US interceptor missiles that missed their intended targets, according to Iranian state media.
The US military rejected that account, saying Iranian drones had deliberately targeted the airport.
Earlier, Iranian media said the Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, a US airbase and a vessel identified as Panaya.
US Central Command denied that its bases had been struck and said Iranian ballistic missiles had failed to hit their targets in the region.
CENTCOM said it had launched a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats allegedly trying to lay mines, and had also struck Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks.
US House votes to curb Trump on Iran war
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution seeking to stop American military action in Iran, a largely symbolic step that nonetheless deals a political setback to President Trump as diplomacy with Tehran stalls.
After the latest flare-ups, four politicians from Trump’s Republican party joined Democrats yesterday in backing the measure by 215-208.
The resolution carries mostly symbolic weight, as the US president could veto it if it clears the Senate.
“This is a loud and unambiguous message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: it’s time to end his deeply unpopular and illegal war of choice in Iran,” Democrats posted on X.
Aftermath view of an Israeli airstrike in front of Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre, Lebanon
Since the US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February, Tehran has repeatedly targeted sites across the Gulf, where several US military bases are located.
Hostilities have flared from time to time in recent weeks despite a ceasefire agreed in early April, while the US has sought to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which handled roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.
Last week, Iran and the US signalled progress towards a tentative initial agreement to stop the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but neither side has yet signed off on the arrangement, which would leave more difficult negotiations for later.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen that talks had not collapsed, but that no breakthrough had been achieved.
Alongside its demand for an end to the fighting in Lebanon, Tehran is also seeking access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions affecting crude exports, an end to a US blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump, facing pressure to bring down fuel prices, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Iran says its atomic programme is for peaceful purposes.
Donald Trump suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend
In a podcast interview released yesterday, Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to forgo a nuclear weapon and that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khameneiwas involved in the negotiations.
President Trump also indicated there could be movement in talks with Iran as soon as this weekend.
“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Mr Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office, without offering further details on what he believed might happen in that timeframe.
President Trump said the parties were trying to separate the issue of reopening the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.
The war has killed thousands, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, while inflicting economic strain around the world by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping routes.
It also triggered the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon yesterday and hit a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it had intercepted a hostile aircraft believed to have been launched by Hezbollah.
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Mr Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively if Israel attacks Beirut.
In the podcast interview, Mr Trump acknowledged that he had called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a reportedly expletive-filled phone exchange over the fighting in Lebanon, as he pushed for a deal on the wider war.
“At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it,” Mr Trump said, using Mr Netanyahu’s nickname.
Mr Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview that he and Mr Trump sometimes had “tactical disagreements” but remained aligned on the main issues concerning Iran.
