Israel carried out a deadly wave of strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, as clashes with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, continued to intensify despite a U.S.-mediated cease-fire reached last month.
At least seven people, including a child, were killed in one strike on the southern coastal town of Saksakiyeh, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for a number of Lebanese towns and villages on Saturday, but Saksakiyeh was not among them. The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah militants in a building used for military purposes, without offering details.
Shortly afterward, two cars were targeted on Lebanon’s main coastal highway, south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, signaling that the attacks were moving farther inland. The Israeli military also said it was striking what it said were Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and launch sites. Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched drones and rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, injuring three soldiers, the Israeli military said.
“They are hitting a lot today,” said Ali Khalil, a resident of Al-Baisariyah, a town in the country’s south a few miles from Saksakiyeh. “So many people are getting killed for no reason.”
The tit-for-tat attacks on Saturday came amid an escalation in fighting that has exposed the limits of the cease-fire and stoked worries that the truce could collapse into another full-fledged war.
Since the U.S.-mediated cease-fire was announced last month, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade daily fire in southern Lebanon, each accusing the other of violating the deal. But the violence has widened in recent days. Earlier this week, Israel carried out an airstrike in Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs, the first such attack there since the truce took effect.
Next week, envoys from Israel and Lebanon, whose government does not control Hezbollah, are scheduled to hold another round of U.S.-brokered talks in Washington, as the Trump administration attempts to turn the cease-fire into a more durable arrangement.
The Trump administration pushed for the cease-fire in Lebanon to preserve fragile peace talks with Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer.
The latest in a series of wars between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in March, when the group fired rockets into Israel, days after the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran began. Israel responded with a large-scale bombing campaign in Lebanon and a ground invasion of the country’s south, where its forces still occupy a broad swath of territory.
More than 2,700 people have since been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry, and at its peak, the fighting displaced more than a million others, about one fifth of Lebanon’s population. Israel has said 18 military personnel and two civilians have been killed as a result of Hezbollah’s attacks.
Hezbollah kept up its attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon on Saturday, saying it had shelled and used drones to strike military positions inside territory that Israeli forces still occupy despite the cease-fire. The Israeli military said that three soldiers were injured on Saturday, one of them severely, in a drone attack.
Hezbollah has increasingly turned to explosive fiber-optic drones, a low-cost weapon first widely used in Ukraine and now spreading to other battlefields. Guided by thin cables instead of radio signals, the drones are difficult for Israel to jam, and Israeli officials say they have become a persistent threat to troops.
Euan Ward is a Times reporter covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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