A few days after Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, rockets hit a Beirut suburb again. The Israeli military attacked "terrorist bases" in the Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh. On Saturday, three soldiers died in an Israeli air strike on a military vehicle. Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the shelling, but admitted attacks on Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's president accuses Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in the conflict with the USA and Israel.
Two officers and a soldier were killed in a strike on a military vehicle traveling between Khardali and Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Israel launched an operation into Lebanon to remove the Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which pulled Lebanon into the broader Middle East conflict by launching missiles on behalf of its sponsor, Iran. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah initially took effect on April 17th, but was never fully respected. The two countries agreed to a conditional deal this week in Washington, D.C., which requires Hezbollah to stop firing, withdraw from near the Israeli border and have Lebanon’s army deploy pilot zones in the area.
At least eight people were killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the death of a UN peacekeeper wounded in a mortar shell attack the night before. US State Department said on Wednesday that Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire contingent on "a complete cessation" of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of its fighters from the South Litani Sector. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem called the Washington-backed arrangement a "shameless" attempt to force Lebanon into surrender.
On 1 June, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire, but within days both sides violated it. The ceasefire lasted less than a week before it became what all the previous ones became: a framework in name, warfare in practice. Every actor from Israel, Hezbollah, the Lebanese state, to the United States, has incentive to keep it exactly this way. Hezbollah has not disarmed, it has not withdrawn from southern Lebanon, and it has continued limited military operations.
Iran launched multiple waves of missiles toward Israel on Sunday after Israeli airstrikes targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs in Lebanon. Observers fear that this latest military escalation could jeopardize the recently restored ceasefire arrangement and cast doubt over U.S.-mediated diplomatic efforts. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Iran's missile launches do not help negotiations and urged Tehran to return to the negotiating table.
Israel has repeatedly invaded Lebanon under the banner of security. Each invasion has inflicted immense destruction, generated mass displacement and reshaped Lebanon's political landscape. The current 2026 incursion has already resulted in more than 3,400 deaths, over 10,000 injuries, and the displacement of around 1.05 million people. Israel frames the current campaign as an act of self-defence.
The Trump Administration announced a ceasefire in Lebanon, but excluded Hezbollah from the talks. Israel has been attacking Lebanon since March, killing over 3,000 people and displacing over 1.2 million. Michael Young, senior editor at the Carnegie Middle East Center and author of The Ghosts of Martyrs Square, gives his opinion on the situation in Lebanon.
It's been 100 days since the beginning of Israel's second intensification of its war on Lebanon in less than two years. Israel and Lebanon have engaged in direct diplomatic talks for the first time in decades, but efforts to implement a ceasefire have fallen by the wayside. On Sunday, Iran attacked Israel as retaliation for an attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Tehran considers a red line. Since March 2, Israel has killed more than 3,600 people in Lebanon, including at least 245 children and 11,000 people have been wounded in Israeli attacks.
At least eight people have been killed in the southern city of Tyre. Iran warned of ‘crushing blows’ if Israeli attacks continued in Lebanon, including in the south. Hezbollah claimed to have carried out 16 operations against Israeli forces, including near the strategic Beaufort Castle. Hezbollah and Israel agreed a ceasefire on April 8.
Israel carried out airstrikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Tuesday, killing at least three people. It comes two days after Iran and Israel had exchanged fire for the first time since a ceasefire announced in April. The civil defense in southern Lebanon said at least eight people were killed. Israel ordered residents in Tyre to move north of the Zahrani river, because of the presence of Hezbollah.