Fighting continues in Lebanon despite ceasefire as US-Iran deal under threat

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least seven people, including two children, hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement.

The persistent fighting threatened an interim agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the strikes hit the southern town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages. At least seven people remained trapped under the rubble, it said.

Mediators were scrambling to halt the fighting between Israel and the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group, after a heavy exchange on Friday killed at least 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers.

An Israeli military official said Hezbollah had fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, prompting the military to start targeting the militant group there.

On Friday, Israeli ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said on X that Israel “remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” if Hezbollah honours the agreement and ceases hostilities.

In public statements, Hezbollah has said it would abide by a ceasefire if Israel did, but has not said a ceasefire was actually in place.

A Hezbollah official said on Friday after reports of a ceasefire deal emerged that efforts were under way by Qatar, the US and Iran to broker an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire but stopped short of confirming a deal had been reached.

Hezbollah and Israel went to war just days after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.

The interim US-Iran agreement signed this week has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed as the war unfolded, cutting off the global economy from significant supplies of oil and natural gas.

The deal also envisages the relaunch of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, a core issue in the war.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the deal, which calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and for the country’s sovereignty to be respected.

With the fighting continuing, the accord is under threat and US-Iran talks in Switzerland, planned to start on Friday, have been delayed, with no new date announced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated.

Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon, which Iran says is also a condition of the deal.

https://x.com/netanyahu/status/2067973972554039530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Plumes of smoke rose into the sky over southern Lebanon on Saturday and Israeli jets flew low over the coastal city of Tyre.

A strike on the village of Barish killed four members of a family, parents and two children. In Arab Salim village, a body was pulled from a destroyed house, and in the villages of Doueir and Kfar Rumman, drone strikes killed a person on a motorcycle and a Lebanese soldier.

On Friday, Mr Netanyahu posted on X that, on his orders, the Israeli army had “struck powerfully” 150 Hezbollah targets, killing dozens of militants.

Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, saying the fighting in Lebanon must stop before the talks can take place. US vice president JD Vance also postponed his trip.

On Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the semi-official ISNA news agency that Pakistan’s interior minister would arrive in Iran as part of continued negotiation efforts.

He had said earlier that consultations through mediators were ongoing regarding the next phase of negotiations to draft a final US-Iran agreement.

Because the initial deal was signed digitally earlier this week, the talks in Switzerland were not urgent, and plans were under way to hold a meeting in the coming days, he said.

The talks in Switzerland were expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Tehran maintains it is for peaceful purposes only, though it has a large stockpile of uranium enriched to higher levels that are a step short of weapons’ grade.

That uranium could be used to build multiple atomic bombs, should Tehran choose to do so, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

Those talks are expected to be difficult. The 2015 nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term, took more than 18 months to negotiate.

The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to come up with a nuclear agreement, but that can be extended.

It outlines lucrative incentives if Iran does reach a new agreement, including the eventual lifting of all international sanctions and a fund for postwar reconstruction.

Iran has already won some concessions. After the signing of the interim deal, the US lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and is allowing it to sell its oil freely.

The deal also calls for Iran’s assets to be unfrozen, although it is not clear how quickly.