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At least 13 people, including four women and a child, died in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry reported. The attacks occurred despite a three-week ceasefire extension brokered earlier this month.
Casualties and evacuation orders
Eight fatalities, among them two women and a child, were recorded in Haboush, Nabatieh district, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had issued evacuation warnings. Four more deaths-two women included-occurred in Zrarieh, Sidon district, while a single fatality was reported in Ain Baal, Tyre district. The ministry added that 32 others sustained injuries during the strikes.
Ongoing hostilities
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have persisted despite the truce. On Saturday, Hezbollah claimed it targeted Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in Lebanon. The IDF confirmed one soldier's death in southern Lebanon on Thursday, raising its troop fatalities since early March to 17.
Ceasefire background
An initial 10-day pause in fighting was announced on 16 April following high-level talks in Washington-the first direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. A three-week extension was declared by US President Donald Trump on 23 April, who described the latest discussions as productive. Trump added that the US would assist Lebanon in countering Hezbollah's influence.
Though Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, was not party to the agreement, it pledged to respect the terms if Israel did the same. While strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs largely ceased, violence has continued in other parts of southern Lebanon, accompanied by repeated evacuation orders.
US diplomatic push
On 30 April, the US embassy in Beirut suggested a potential meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could secure guarantees for Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and reconstruction support. The US would act as guarantor, according to the embassy's post on X. President Aoun met with US Ambassador Michael Issa on Friday, who reaffirmed Washington's continued support for Lebanon.
Recent escalation
Tensions escalated after Israel and the US conducted a strike on Iran on 28 February, killing Iran's supreme leader. Hezbollah retaliated on 2 March with rocket and drone attacks on Israel, prompting Israeli air strikes and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Since early March, Israeli forces have occupied a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) strip of Lebanese territory, destroying multiple villages.
The Lebanese health ministry reports 2,659 deaths in Lebanon since early March, including 103 healthcare workers and emergency responders, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians. In Israel, two civilians have died in Hezbollah attacks alongside the 17 soldiers killed in Lebanon.
Latest military actions
The IDF stated it conducted approximately 50 strikes in southern Lebanon over the past day, targeting Hezbollah command centers and military infrastructure. Earlier, the IDF intercepted two aerial threats before they crossed into Israeli airspace.
