Israeli strikes kill seven in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire doubts

Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon again Saturday, killing at least seven people, including two children, in Nabatiyeh and nearby villages just hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement. Lebanon’s National News Agency said at least seven other people were trapped under the rubble, underscoring how quickly the promise of a halt to the fighting gave way to more destruction.

The new strikes came after a heavy exchange on Friday that killed at least 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers. An Israeli military official said Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, prompting Israeli forces to begin targeting the militant group there. Plumes of smoke rose over the south on Saturday, and Israeli jets flew low over the coastal city of Tyre as residents tried to make sense of the shifting battlefield.

The gap between diplomatic language and military reality is widening. On Friday, Israeli ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said Israel “remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” if Hezbollah honors the agreement and stops hostilities. A Hezbollah official said Qatar, the U.S. and Iran were working to broker a ceasefire, but did not confirm that any deal had been reached. In public statements, Hezbollah has said it will abide by a ceasefire if Israel does, while stopping short of saying one was already in force.

That uncertainty has broader consequences far beyond Lebanon’s south. The ceasefire is tied to an interim U.S.-Iran agreement meant to help end the wider war in the Middle East. The deal has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz after Iran had closed it during the fighting, restoring a crucial route for global oil and natural gas shipments. It also sets the stage for renewed talks on Iran’s nuclear program, a central issue in the conflict. But with the strikes continuing, the accord is under strain and the U.S.-Iran talks planned to start Friday in Switzerland have been delayed with no new date announced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Iran says Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is also a condition of the deal. In Nabatiyeh, where residents have begun returning in small numbers, many have found homes destroyed or damaged, a stark measure of the displacement and reconstruction crisis that now shadows any ceasefire effort.