LEBANON – At least 13 people, including four women and a child, have been killed in Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said. Two women and a child were among eight killed in Haboush in Nabatieh district, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had issued an evacuation order.
Four people, including two women, were killed in Zrarieh in Sidon district, while another person was killed in Ain Baal in Tyre district. In total, 32 people were injured on Friday. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued despite an ongoing three-week ceasefire extension. On Saturday, Iran-backed group Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in Lebanon.
The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed during combat in southern Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the number of Israeli troop deaths since early March to 17. An initial 10-day pause in hostilities had been announced on 16 April following ambassador talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon. The two countries have no diplomatic relations and the first meeting in Washington was the first high-level set of talks between them since 1993.
A three-week extension to the ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump on 23 April, who said the second meeting between the two countries "went very well" and the US would be working with Lebanon "to help it protect itself from Hezbollah". The Iran-backed group was not involved in the ceasefire agreement but had indicated it would abide by its terms if it was also respected by Israel. While the truce largely halted strikes on the capital city Beirut and its southern suburbs, fighting has persisted elsewhere in the south, with continued air raids and repeated evacuation orders.
On 30 April, the US embassy in Beirut suggested a meeting between Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would give Lebanon "the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory".
The post on X added that this would be "guaranteed by the US". The Lebanese president met with the US ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa on Friday, where Issa affirmed that the US continued support to Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire ending a previous conflict in November 2024, after which Israel carried out near-daily attacks on targets and people it said were linked to Hezbollah. After the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February and killed Iran's supreme leader, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel in retaliation on 2 March. (BBC)
