Eight killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon amid de-escalation talks

At least eight people have been killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, according to the war-torn country’s National News Agency (NNA), hours after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement to de-escalate fighting that neither Israel nor the Lebanese group Hezbollah has publicly accepted.

Two Syrians were killed in an Israeli attack on a plant nursery where they were working in the town of Jebchit in the Nabatieh governorate, NNA said on Tuesday.

Israeli drone strikes hit a motorcycle on Martyr Sabra Street in Toul and a car in the Dhi’at al-Arab neighbourhood of Ansar, killing two people, NNA said.

The third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing one person.

Separately, an Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with the city of Nabatieh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the nearby Christian municipality of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son, NNA reported.

The family were returning home from the city of Sidon where the daughter, Theodossia, sat exams. Following the deadly attack, the Lebanese University postponed examinations until next week “out of its responsibility toward its students, professors and employees”.

Meanwhile, the death toll in yesterday’s attack on Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre has risen to four people, with 50 people injured. There was significant damage to the hospital wards, the parking garage and neighbouring buildings. NNA described this toll as “preliminary”.

Diplomatic push

The attacks come as the fourth round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon began at the US State Department headquarters in Washington. Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks.

The talks that began in April were the first in more than 30 years between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.

The deadly Israeli attacks also come hours after Trump said he had held separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah leaders and announced that Israel and the Iran-aligned armed group had agreed to de-escalate attacks.

The office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said under the agreement, Hezbollah would no longer fire into Israel while the Israeli military would cease striking the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The developments followed a dramatic escalation in violence that saw Israeli troops stage their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than 20 years, conducting waves of heavy bombardments and threatening to attack the Beirut suburbs as the situation threatened to scupper a ceasefire in the wider US-Israel war on Iran.

The Israeli military said air defences intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel in the morning, hours after Trump’s announcement.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said the reported attack on Israel has raised concerns about the situation.

“Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any cross-border attacks since Trump’s announcement,” she said. “However, it has claimed attacks against Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon,” our correspondent said, adding that the developments show “just how fragile this deal is”.

“Even though the military has taken more control and pushed deeper into Lebanon, the Israeli army has suffered casualties with at least two soldiers killed in the last 24 hours in the area of Beaufort Castle, a strategic hilltop position,” she said.

Khodr added: “Clearly, Hezbollah is still able to attack them.”

Israeli troops on Saturday seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and the strategic ridge it sits on in southern Lebanon.

That occurred a day after the Israeli army reported one of the ⁠⁠heaviest days of fire towards northern Israel from Lebanon since the April ceasefire.

Trump’s message

Netanyahu said he told Trump during their call “that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut”.

But Trump doubled down on his ceasefire push, posting on his Truth Social platform that “hopefully” Israel and Hezbollah would stop fighting “for ETERNITY!”

“There will be no troops going to Beirut, and any troops that are on their way have already been turned back,” Trump said after what he described as a “very productive” call with Netanyahu.

“Likewise, through highly placed representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop – that Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel,” Trump added.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on Iran on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, and Tehran has insisted that Lebanon be included in any peace deal with Washington.

According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, Tehran was no longer engaging in talks with Washington due to Israel’s offensive.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire and it began on April 17, but Israel and Hezbollah have not observed it.

They both accuse each other daily of violating the ceasefire and justify their attacks by blaming the other for breaches.

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed at least 3,433 people in Lebanon.

Israel’s military said two of its soldiers were killed at the weekend in southern Lebanon, bringing to 27 the number of Israeli military deaths since early March.