Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon continue despite ‘ceasefire’ extension

Israel has launched another series of air strikes on southern Lebanon, a day after the two countries agreed to extend a ceasefire deal for a further 45 days following talks in Washington – although this truce has never been observed in practice.

At least three people were killed when Israeli aircraft targeted the town of Tayr Falsayh in the Tyre district, killing a woman, her son and a paramedic, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Five civilians were injured in the attack, with civil defence teams attempting to retrieve the bodies from the rubble.

Israeli warplanes killed a husband and wife in another strike on the town of Haboush, southern Lebanon.

An Israeli officer was killed in southern Lebanon, the army said on Saturday, with reports that the soldier was targeted in a drone strike.

Lebanon’s health ministry says that 2,969 people have been killed and 9,112 wounded since March 2, when fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed. Israeli attacks have killed more than 500 since the truce was announced on April 16.

At least five villages in the south were also bombed on Saturday, while the Israeli army issued new forced displacement orders for nine villages in southern Lebanon near Sidon and Nabatieh, including Qaaqaaiyet, al-Snoubar, Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad, al-Marwaniyah, al-Ghassaniyah and more.

On Saturday morning, Israeli warplanes also launched air attacks on the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif in southern Lebanon, NNA reported.

The towns of Kfar Tebnit, Arnoun, as well as the Arnoun-Kfar Tebnit road, have also come under heavy artillery bombardment, NNA said, as the Israeli military claimed to have struck “Hezbollah infrastructure sites in several areas in southern Lebanon”.

This comes after envoys from Israel and Lebanon held negotiations in Washington following the first direct talks in decades last month between the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations.

The NNA reported that the ceasefire extension is intended to allow for a US-facilitated security track to begin on May 29, with the next round of talks between the two sides planned for 2 and 3 June in Washington.

Hezbollah opposes the negotiations, especially as Israeli forces continue to bomb southern Lebanon and occupy parts of it since the ceasefire, in theory, took effect on April 17. On Saturday, the group issued a new statement condemning the outcome of the talks in Washington and told the government to stop with “concessions”.

But Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed the 45-day extension of the truce with Israel, as the Lebanese presidency said in a statement: “The extension of the ceasefire and the establishment of a US-facilitated security track provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability.”

Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto, reporting from Tyre, southern Lebanon, on Saturday, said, “Today, there have been artillery strikes in the eastern part of the country, in Yohmor and Kherbet Qanafar. This is an indication that the ceasefire is a ceasefire in name only. Yesterday, as the ceasefire extension was being announced via social media by the US State Department, Israel was simultaneously releasing forced [displacement] orders for two buildings here in the city of Tyre.”

Hitto added, “Unfortunately, for people here in southern Lebanon, the ceasefire announcement has brought little respite. People remain concerned about further escalation, particularly given that Israel used the previous phase of the ceasefire to escalate and increase its attacks, and that is what many are now expecting again.”