The Trump administration has announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities. However, the deal is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah armed group and the evacuation of all its fighters from the area south of the Litani River. Hezbollah has not been part of the talks, with the Lebanese government negotiating without the group as part of its effort to reassert control and disarm Hezbollah.
Despite the joint commitment to a ceasefire, Israel carried out drone strikes in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon on Thursday morning. Three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been attacked by Israel in under a week, wounding more than 150 people and killing nine. Analysts and human rights experts have said the attacks on healthcare facilities were aimed at degrading conditions for life in south Lebanon. The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Tyre and acknowledged a hospital was affected incidentally, accusing Hezbollah of taking over one of the hospitals it struck.
In a separate development, the US House of Representatives voted 215 to 208 in favour of a war powers resolution to force President Donald Trump to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces from the conflict with Iran. Four Republicans voted with Democrats. The resolution now goes to the Senate. This was the fourth vote on a resolution to rein in Trump's power to continue the conflict, which has been running for more than 90 days. The 1973 War Powers Resolution requires a president to seek congressional approval after hostilities have continued for that length of time, though the White House has rejected this argument, citing a temporary ceasefire that has been in place since 8 April but has been broken several times.
