An Israeli military official told Reuters on Saturday that Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, hours after a U.S.-announced ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed group was said to have taken effect.
The official said the military responded by striking “Hezbollah targets” in southern Lebanon, and added that stability for both Lebanon and Israel could be achieved if Hezbollah stopped violating ceasefire agreements.
A senior Hezbollah official told Reuters the group would not allow Israel “freedom of movement” in what it described as occupied Lebanese territory, and would not allow Israel to operate freely in Lebanon.
Lebanese state media reported that at least five people were killed in Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Lebanon’s state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones struck across the Nabatieh area overnight and into the morning, destroying residential buildings and homes, while artillery shelled Nabatieh and its outskirts before dawn. NNA also reported that one Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said the continuation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon was aimed at obstructing efforts to restore stability in the country.
The latest exchanges came after an escalation overnight between Thursday and Friday, when four IDF soldiers were killed in a tank incident, including Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simhon, commander of the 52nd Armored Battalion. The circumstances are still under investigation.
Following that incident, the IDF struck about 150 targets in Lebanon on Friday. Lebanese reports said 47 people were killed and 97 wounded.
The Trump administration, which has been pressing Israel to moderate its strikes in Lebanon in an effort to enable progress in negotiations with Iran, announced Friday that Israel and Hezbollah had reached a ceasefire set to begin at 4 p.m. A senior Israeli official said afterward that there was no change in the ceasefire and that it still allowed the IDF to continue destroying infrastructure and acting against emerging threats.
On Saturday morning, Al-Mayadeen, a network affiliated with Hezbollah, reported strikes in Nabatieh al-Fawqa and villages in the Tyre area, as well as artillery fire toward Roumine and Jbaa. Lebanese media reported 14 strikes between 5:40 a.m. and 7 a.m., most of them in the Nabatieh area.