An Israeli airstrike killed two people in the southern village of Touline on Friday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, as Israel’s army ordered residents to evacuate another southern Lebanese town, a day after Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire by three weeks.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah was operating from the town, without providing evidence or specifying when, warning that militant activity launched from the southern town of Deir Aames would prompt Israeli action.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said the U.S.-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless after it shot down an Israeli drone, which it identified as a Hermes 450.
Meanwhile, an Israeli drone was heard circling above Beirut throughout the day on Friday, Reuters reporters said.
The Israeli military warned residents of Deir Aames to leave their homes immediately on Friday, saying it planned to act against “Hezbollah activities” there.
The Israeli military has ordered residents to evacuate the southern Lebanese town of Deir Ames, north of its self-declared ‘security zone,’ saying it planned to carry out strikes there, a day after Israel and Lebanon extended a ceasefire by three weeks.
Deir Aames is located north of the area occupied by Israeli forces, and it was the first time Israel had issued such a warning since a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon came into force on April 16.
Posted on social media, the Israeli warning gave no details of the activities it said Hezbollah was conducting in the town.
The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a drone prior to its crossing into Israeli territory and that sirens were sounded in line with protocol.
On Friday, Indonesia once again strongly condemned an Israeli attack in Lebanon that resulted in the death of a fourth Indonesian peacekeeper, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
The peacekeeper suffered severe injuries due to an artillery explosion from an Israeli tank on March 29, and the ministry said he died on Friday. Three other Indonesian peacekeepers had also died due to the attack.
Indonesia urged the United Nations to conduct a thorough, transparent and accountable investigation into the deaths of its UNIFIL peacekeepers.
Hezbollah lawmaker calls ceasefire ‘meaningless’
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement posted to X on Friday that he welcomed the ceasefire extension and called on all parties to “fully respect the cessation of hostilities, cease any further attacks & comply with their obligations under international law.”
I welcome the announcement of a three-week extension to the cessation of hostilities arrangement to enable dialogue between Lebanon & Israel, and commend the role of the US in facilitating the extension.
Everyone must fully respect the cessation of hostilities, cease any further…
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared “buffer zone.”
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah member of parliament Ali Fayyad said that “it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling and gunfire” and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
“Every Israeli attack … gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response,” he said.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement and has strongly objected to Lebanon’s face-to-face contacts with Israel.
Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has strained efforts to extend the fragile ceasefire and inflamed anger in southern Lebanon, where many believe Israel is targeting whomever it wants, despite the truce.
The April 16 agreement does not require Israeli troops to withdraw from the belt of southern Lebanon seized during the war. The zone extends five to 10 kilometres into Lebanon.
Israel says the buffer zone aims to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran, which had been attacked by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.
The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese Health Ministry says.
Hezbollah attacks killed two civilians in Israel after March 2, while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since then, Israel says.
Residents question ceasefire deal
The continued fighting has angered war-weary Lebanese, who say they want to see a genuine ceasefire put a full halt to violence.
“What’s this? Is this called a ceasefire? Or is this mocking [people’s] intelligence?” said Naem Saleh, a 73-year-old owner of a newsstand in Beirut.
Residents of northern Israel had mostly returned to daily life but expressed pessimism about the longevity of the ceasefire with Lebanon.
“I believe that the ceasefire is so fragile, and unfortunately it won’t stand long, in my opinion,” said Eliad Eini, a resident of Nahariya, which lies just 10 kilometres from the border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the south, including a journalist.
Israel declared roughly 50 towns and villages in southern Lebanon as ‘no-go’ zones during a 10-day ceasefire, with the military continuing mass demolition it says is necessary to eliminate Hezbollah infrastructure. Residents say it’s Israel’s way of deepening its footprint in the region.
In his opening remarks at Thursday’s talks, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said, “Lebanon should acknowledge the temporary presence of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] and the right of Israel to defend itself from a hostile force that is firing on the population.”
Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.S., Nada Moawad, in a written statement sent to Reuters, called for the ceasefire to be fully respected and said it would allow the necessary conditions for meaningful negotiations.
Lebanon has said it aims to secure the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory in broader talks with Israel at a later stage.
Trump said on Thursday that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, adding there was “a great chance” the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year.