Israeli air raids kill four in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talks

Israeli air raids across southern Lebanon have killed four people as attacks continue despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire”.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that one person was killed in an airstrike targeting the town of Maarakeh in the Tyre District.

Ali Badie, the mayor of Ar-Rihan municipality, was killed in an Israeli attack on the area in the Jezzine district of southern Lebanon.

Two other people were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting their town of Deir al-Zahrani in Nabatieh District, which also destroyed a residential building, according to NNA.

Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said that over the course of Friday and into the evening, there were continued Israeli air attacks on towns and villages that are well north of what the Israelis call the “Yellow Line” – the part of southern Lebanon that they have been seeking to control and to occupy.

The attacks come after an announcement by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday that the United States and Iran have agreed on the wording of an agreement aimed at ending their war, and that mediators were working with both sides to finalise a deal.

Iranian media report the initial agreement would declare an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon”.

This has led to fears that Israel’s actions in Lebanon could scupper a deal, since Israel is not a party to the negotiations between the US and Iran, and its leaders have said they do not plan to withdraw from Lebanon.

The attacks also come amid a supposed ceasefire, agreed between Israeli and Lebanese officials earlier this month, that would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, yet the fighting continues.

The next round of talks between the two countries is expected on June 22, with a view towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that the country is at a “fateful juncture” with a choice to become “a sovereign state that monopolises arms and upholds the rule of law” or to remain “hostage to the logic of militias and the culture of exclusion”.

Speaking on the anniversary of the assassination of former minister Tony Suleiman Frangieh in 1978 by armed factions, Aoun said national unity was an “existential necessity”.

“We are at a moment that tolerates neither sectarian luxury nor regional tug-of-war,” he said.

Israel issues forced displacement orders, demolishes homes

Israeli attacks at dawn have demolished homes and government buildings in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, the country’s NNA reports.

The Israeli military also ordered residents of 20 Lebanese towns and villages to leave their homes immediately and move “north of the Zahrani River”.

The forced displacement orders apply to Deir al-Zahrani, al-Namirieh, al-Sharquieh, al-Dewayr, Harouf, Habboush, Kfarjoz, Zibdine (Nabatieh), Nabatieh al-Tahta, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Kfar Rouman, Al-Mahmoudieh, Sajed (Jezzine), Reihan, Aaramta, Kfarchouba, Mlki, Al-Lawiza (Jezzine), Jarjouh and Arab Salim.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said an air raid alert had been activated in the northern town of Metula due to the “infiltration of a hostile aircraft” from Lebanon, but did not name the armed group Hezbollah.