Israeli strikes in Southern Lebanon kill 11 as regional tensions escalate

Israel's latest campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants continued on Monday, with retaliatory strikes in Southern Lebanon contributing to an apparent escalation in the wider Middle East conflict in recent days.

At least 11 people were killed, including two children and two medics, in Israeli strikes on a residential building in a town in southern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanon's state news agency reported.

Lebanon has emerged as the most important secondary front in the Iran war, as U.S. ally Israel confronts Tehran's most important regional military supporter, Hezbollah.

The latest Israeli strike extends a run of Israeli attacks that have killed civilians in southern Lebanon over the weekend, testing a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that has failed to yield a full halt in hostilities since taking effect in late June.

At least seven people, including two women, were killed in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon on Sunday, with six others wounded, Reuters reported, citing Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel described those strikes as retaliation for Hezbollah drones fired at its forces.

Before the strikes, Israel's military had issued an evacuation order for residents in the area earlier on Monday. Israeli military spokesperson Ella Waweya, in a social media post, called on residents inside a building marked on an accompanying map in Deir al-Zahrani — and in adjacent structures — to "evacuate immediately" and move at least 300 meters away, saying the site was near a Hezbollah facility the army intended to target and warning that remaining in the area "puts you in danger."

In the Monday post, the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement, saying an explosive drone had been launched toward its forces and that this was causing the army "to act against it forcefully."

Lebanon was drawn into the wider regional war in March, when the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group formally joined the fighting, prompting Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion, extending a conflict that Lebanon said has killed at least 4,300 people and wounded over 12,000 since March 2.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday called the strikes "a dangerous escalation," calling on the U.S. to help end the hostilities.

"President Aoun held the Israeli side fully responsible for this ongoing escalation, calling on the United States and the international community to take immediate action to stop these violations and hold the perpetrators accountable," according to a statement.

Violence has persisted in the region despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal reached in June, with sporadic Israeli strikes and Hezbollah drone attacks. Last month was the deadliest since the truce, as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 11 people and wounded 19 in southern Lebanon.

Monday's evacuation warning was only the third issued since the June ceasefire announcement, after the first online evacuation order on Aug. 5 and the second on Sunday.

Standoff

The war between Iran and the U.S. has stretched into its seventh month with little indication that either side is preparing to return to the negotiating table. The Trump administration has been upping the ante with its economic pressure campaign against the Islamic regime, while military hostilities intensified.

A preliminary ceasefire reached in June has collapsed, and diplomatic efforts to revive talks have stalled. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints, remained at a fraction of pre-war levels.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Sunday that Tehran will announce in the coming days, a "restricted zone" that runs from the U.S. naval blockade line, through the Strait of Hormuz, and into the Persian Gulf.

Rezaei said Iran will also sign off on a new international shipping corridor through the strait, developed jointly with Oman and operating "under Iran's management." Few details have been disclosed on the plan, but Rezaei said any ship entering the new zone would be added to a sanctions list.

On the U.S. side, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that a nuclear agreement with Iran may no longer be achievable through negotiation.

"There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it," Wright said, adding that a deal "may await a next administration in Iran."

Iran: 'Serious consequences' for South Korean involvement

Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday warned Seoul against potential military involvement and support for U.S. "aggression."

South Korea's foreign ministry reportedly said over the weekend that it was in "close communication with relevant countries to help restore peace and stability in the Middle East as soon as possible." Last week, Seoul said it was reviewing options, including military measures to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters.

"At a time when the Iranian people are exercising their right to self-defense against U.S. acts of aggression and firmly confronting U.S. war crimes targeting women and children, any military presence or operational participation by another nation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would inevitably be viewed as direct support for the aggressor, leading to serious consequences," Baghaei wrote in a post on X, written in the Korean language.

"No sovereign and responsible nation should yield to U.S. pressure and intimidation by becoming complicit in acts of aggression and horrific crimes against the great Iranian people."