Lebanon reports Israeli strikes after truce announcement

BEIRUT: Lebanese official media reported Israeli airstrikes in the country’s south on Thursday, hours after an announcement that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a conditional ceasefire following talks in Washington.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported drone strikes along roads at several southern locations, saying at least one caused casualties.

Earlier Thursday morning, the Israeli military said air raid sirens were sounded in northern Israel, with one incident involving a “suspicious aerial target” resolved, while another incident was found to be a false alarm.

In Washington on Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after a fourth round of US-led talks.

The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday criticised the deal, calling it a “serious mistake”.

Early Thursday before the announcement, Hezbollah said it had launched a “salvo of rockets” at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in south Lebanon’s Qantara, and fired drones at troops near the strategic Beaufort castle.

A previous ceasefire to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17 but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s alleged violations.

Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2, firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said last week that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the April 17 truce.

This week, senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told AFP the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire”.