Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 23 in Lebanon

Israeli strikes across Lebanon killed at least 23 people on Saturday as fighting with Hezbollah intensified despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire now in its third week. Officials said an attack on the town of al-Saksakieh in the southern Sidon district killed at least seven people, including a child, and wounded 15 others, including three children.

Additional strikes killed a Syrian man and his daughter in Nabatieh, three people in Nahrain, three in Saadiyat, three in Haboush, one in Mefdoun, and four more in separate incidents including a drone strike on a motorcycle and an air raid in the al-Bayad neighbourhood of Nabatieh.

The Israeli military separately announced it hit more than 85 Hezbollah targets over the weekend. These included rocket launchers, weapons depots, underground manufacturing facilities and buildings used by the Iranian-backed group. The strikes came after Hezbollah launched explosive drones that entered Israeli territory and wounded three soldiers, one seriously, along with rockets that landed near Israeli troops in southern Lebanon without causing further casualties.

In response, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for several villages in southern Lebanon on Saturday morning and carried out retaliatory strikes. The military maintained a buffer zone south of the Litani River, preventing the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced residents while continuing to occupy parts of the area and demolish houses.

The ceasefire announced by President Trump on April 16 was intended to pause major fighting but explicitly allows Israel defensive action against Hezbollah threats. Since that date, Israeli forces have killed nearly 500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials.

The overall death toll since Israel's military campaign began on March 2 now exceeds 2,750. Hezbollah, which is not part of the upcoming talks, continued attacks on Israeli positions. The group said it launched artillery shells at positions in the southern Lebanese towns of Biyyada and Rachaf, a drone strike in the border town of Misgav Am, and targeted an Israeli army bulldozer in al-Abbad.

The Israeli military reported intercepting multiple projectiles aimed at its troops in southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in a strike on Beirut on Thursday.

“He likely read in the press that he had immunity in Beirut. Well, he read it and it is no longer the case,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Israel had refrained from striking Hezbollah targets in Beirut for weeks before that attack.

““In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you.” — Col. For the first time, military representatives will join the diplomatic delegations. The discussions are expected to focus on a framework for a peace deal that includes Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials have demanded that Israeli strikes cease before any negotiations proceed. On Friday, Lebanon’s president met with the head of the Lebanese delegation and issued directives ahead of the trip. The U.S. Lebanese state media reported further air attacks on several towns in southern Lebanon later Saturday, though casualty information was not immediately available. The renewed violence jeopardizes the fragile truce even as both sides prepare for U.S.-mediated negotiations next week.”