Israeli airstrikes kill 13 in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire
Thirteen people, including four women and a child, were killed as Israeli strikes hit three southern Lebanon towns despite a ceasefire extension.
Israeli airstrikes killed 13 people in southern Lebanon and wounded 32 more on Friday, deepening doubts about a ceasefire meant to slow a conflict that is instead edging back toward open-ended violence. The Lebanese Health Ministry said the dead included four women and a child, underscoring how quickly civilians are again carrying the cost of the Israel-Hezbollah front.
The deadliest strike hit Habboush in Nabatieh district after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning, killing eight people and wounding 21. In Zrariyeh in Sidon district, four people were killed, including two women. A third strike in Ain Baal near Tyre killed one person and injured seven. The pattern suggested a widening operational reach in the south, even as the ceasefire was still supposed to be in force.
The violence comes despite a U.S.-brokered truce that began on April 16 for an initial 10 days and was later extended by three weeks after talks in Washington, D.C. The U.S. State Department said the arrangement was intended to support negotiations toward a permanent security and peace agreement. Instead, the latest strikes followed a string of escalatory moves, including Israeli evacuation notices for seven towns in southern Lebanon on April 26 and protests in Beirut on April 30 by residents and local officials from border villages who said their homes had been destroyed and they were being blocked from returning.
Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had targeted Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in Lebanon, while the Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in southern Lebanon on Thursday, bringing its troop deaths there since early March to 17. The exchange shows a front line that remains active despite diplomatic language about de-escalation, with each side still signaling it can inflict losses.
Humanitarian groups have warned that the fighting is also battering Lebanon’s medical system. Amnesty International said the World Health Organization recorded 28 attacks on healthcare in Lebanon between March 2 and March 15, killing 30 people and injuring 35. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 40 health workers had been killed and 96 injured as of March 16. The latest strikes add fresh civilian casualties to a war that now tests not just deterrence, but the credibility of the ceasefire itself.
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