The Israeli army warned on Saturday that Lebanese residents of various southern villages will not be allowed to return, despite the ceasefire that was extended this week. The move has been condemned as a blatant violation.
“It is not permitted to approach the area of the Litani River, the Salhani Valley and the Saluki,” Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X, listing over 50 specific villages which Israel is warning Lebanese people against travelling towards.
Meanwhile, the army also said it struck three different areas in southern Lebanon overnight, claiming to have targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the town of Houla in the Marjayoun area also came under Israeli artillery fire.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire by three weeks following a second round of high-level negotiations at the White House, where he hosted the ambassadors from both nations in the Oval Office.
A 10-day truce was first announced on 16 April, also breached by Israel.
Eight people were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll since 2 March to 2,491, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Friday.
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A statement by the ministry said that 12 more people were injured over the past day, bringing the total number of injuries to 7,719.
Truce on the brink of collapse?
The pro-Iran armed group Hezbollah said Friday that it carried out drone attacks on Israeli targets in southern Lebanon in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.
The armed Shiite group said in a statement that it launched a drone attack at Israeli troops in the town of Qantara, in the Marjayoun District, claiming a “direct hit.”
Hezbollah said the attack was carried out in retaliation for Israeli strikes on civilians, including an airstrike earlier Friday on the town of Touline, where two people were killed.
In a separate statement, the group said it shot down an Israeli drone in the skies above the Housh area near Tyre using a surface-to-air missile.
Lebanon’s National News Agency, meanwhile, reported “intense” clashes between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli army in the town of Bint Jbeil.
The Israeli army claimed that it had killed six Hezbollah members during the clashes, with no casualties on its side.
Bint Jbeil lies about 3 kilometers from the southern border and serves as the center of the Bint Jbeil district in the Nabatieh district, with an estimated population of around 30,000.
Israeli forces continued strikes Friday in southern Lebanon, marking further violations of the truce.
The two warring sides have continued clashing despite US-led efforts to force a ceasefire raising concern by onlookers about whether a meaningful end to hostilities can ever be achieved under the current situation.
The US is currently engaged in an effort to negotiate with Hezbollah’s main sponsor Iran over the tense standoff surrounding the Strait of Hormuz – a vital energy and trade route in the region.
Hezbollah are a proscribed group in both the US and UK.
