Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people, including a dentist and his two children, a day after President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to dial back fighting.
Lebanon's National News Agency reported that a strike hit a car on the road between Marjayoun and Nabatiyeh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the Christian town of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son. A separate drone attack on the village of Jibchit killed two Syrians who worked at a plant nursery, while further strikes killed two people in the nearby village of Toul and one person near Harouf. The Lebanese army said two soldiers were lightly wounded when a drone targeted them on a road outside Nabatiyeh.
Hezbollah said its fighters fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops advancing into the southern village of Hadatha, about seven kilometres from the border. The Israeli military reported that sirens sounded in several northern areas after a suspicious aerial target was identified, but said no injuries were sustained.
The violence came despite a Washington-brokered ceasefire reached in April, and as Israeli and Lebanese negotiators were due to hold a second round of talks in Washington. The fighting presents a significant obstacle to efforts to extend a separate ceasefire in the conflict linked to Iran, which erupted after strikes by the United States and Israel on 28 February. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, relying on pressure from Iran.
According to the report, the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed at least 3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million. On the Israeli side, at least 27 soldiers and a defence contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.
