Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon on June 13, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after U.S.-led talks in Washington.

U.S.-Israel war on Iran: Follow LIVE updates on June 4, 2026

The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.

The development came despite continued cross-border attacks earlier in the day, with Hezbollah saying it targeted Israeli troops and Israeli strikes killing at least nine people in southern Lebanon.

The joint statement said the ceasefire was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah as well as evacuation of the group’s operatives from southern Lebanon.

The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks by Lebanese and Israeli diplomats since fighting erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah renewed attacks against Israel in support of Iran.

Both sides will meet for more talks the week of June 22, the statement said, “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement”.

Lebanon state media says Israel strike kills paramedic

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a paramedic, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported late on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) citing Lebanon’s health ministry.

“The Israeli enemy, in what marks the fourth attack in less than 24 hours on paramedics and healthcare facilities, directly targeted an ambulance team affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee in the town of Zibdine in the Nabatieh district, resulting in the death of one paramedic and the injury of another,” the NNA reported. The Islamic Health Committee is linked to Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry said earlier on Wednesday that two paramedics were killed in a separate Israeli strike, with at least 130 emergency and health workers now killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began in March.

Hostilities continue

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war with Iran.

Tehran, however, insists the conflicts are linked and its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of war.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a “hostile aircraft” and two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday (June 3, 2026).

Hezbollah, for its part, said that “in response to the Israeli enemy army’s violation of the ceasefire”, its fighters targeted soldiers in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.

A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17, but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s alleged violations.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati had told AFP on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) that the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire”.

Paramedics

Among the Israeli strikes on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) was one targeting a car on the main highway out of the capital, the NNA said.

The NNA also reported strikes on more than 20 locations in the south, some after Israel’s military warned residents of several villages to evacuate.

The health ministry said an Israeli attack on Al-Hawsh near the city of Tyre killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

But an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP‘s Jerusalem bureau that “we are not aware of any such attack having occurred in the area”.

The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike elsewhere in the south targeted an ambulance, killing two paramedics from the Risala Scouts Association, which is affiliated with Hezbollah’s ally the Amal movement.

The ministry circulated images of a badly damaged ambulance, with medical masks spilling out of the vehicle and scattered on the road.

At least 130 emergency and health workers have been killed since the fighting began.

Lebanon’s army said a soldier was also killed in an Israeli strike, while an officer and a soldier were wounded in a separate attack on a military vehicle.

The force denounced what it called Israel’s “deliberate targeting of army personnel, vehicles and positions”.

Petition

On Tuesday (June 2, 2026), Israel’s military alleged that Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre’s Christian quarter and said it would warn people to leave should the group remain there.

An AFP correspondent said the situation in Tyre was relatively calm on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) morning, adding that some people who had been sleeping in cars or tents at the edge of the Christian quarter left for other parts of the city.

A petition calling for Tyre to be declared an “open city” free of any armed presence and urging Lebanon’s military to deploy there has garnered more than 180 signatures, including local lawyers and intellectuals.

Hezbollah has a strong presence in Tyre, and some signatories have since been attacked on social media for their stance.

More than 200 people have signed a similar petition concerning Nabatieh, another large south Lebanon city that has come under Israeli attack.

Israel has recently escalated its attacks and is staging its deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades.

Published – June 04, 2026 08:59 am IST

Security forces and residents inspect and clear debris scattered across a road at the scene of an Israeli airstrike that hit a car in the coastal town of Saadiyat, south of Beirut, Lebanon, on May 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Lebanon’s Army will fully disarm Hezbollah near the border with Israel within three months, Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi told AFP on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) in an interview that provided details of a plan rejected by the militant group.

In August, the Lebanese government, under pressure from the United States and Israeli strikes, ordered the military to draw up disarmament plans which cabinet said last week the Army would begin implementing, without disclosing details.

Raggi said Army chief Rodolphe Haykal presented a five-stage plan that would ensure the Lebanese state has a monopoly over weapons in the country.

The first stage should take “three months… during which the removal of weapons will be completed south of the Litani River”, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Israel, Raggi said.

“There will be no warehouses, no weapons, no weapons transfers, no fighters, and no display of arms” in the area by the end of November, he said.

During the first phase, the army will implement security measures across the country, he added.

The army will “tighten and increase the number of checkpoints, prevent the movement and carrying of weapons… but without conducting raids, arresting individuals, or confiscating weapons from warehouses”, Raggi said.

“At the very least, the movement of weapons from one area to another will be prohibited.”

Raggi said the next four phases of the plan will see disarmament in other regions, including Beirut and the eastern Bekaa, “but without timelines”.

Hezbollah has been severely weakened by a year-long conflict with Israel, including two months of open war, that destroyed part of its arsenal and decimated its leadership.

It has along with its allies in the government opposed the disarmament push, which Lebanon says is part of a ceasefire deal that ended the war last November.

In June, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that the Lebanese army had dismantled more than 500 Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in the south, where the group built a large number of tunnels and still holds sway.

Limited capabilities

Last week, Information Minister Paul Morcos told journalists that the army will implement its disarmament plan “in accordance with the available capabilities, which are limited in terms of logistics, material and human resources”.

Referring to the end-of-year deadline, Raggi said army chief Haykal has briefed the government that there are insufficient “human, material, or technical capabilities to be able to do everything within that period, and that he needs more time”.

In August, Lebanon approved a US proposal that laid out the timeline and mechanism for dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal, and stipulated Israel’s total withdrawal from Lebanon.

Lebanon said last week that “the Israeli side has not yet shown any commitment” to the contents of the American proposal presented by envoy Tom Barrack.

It insisted any progress on implementation was conditional on other parties, primarily Israel.

Lebanon remains bound to disarm the Iran-backed group regardless, Raggi said, explaining that “arms monopoly is not linked to Barrack’s proposal” but a matter of state policy.

Diplomatic pressure

Last year’s truce, based on a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that said all non-state groups should be disarmed, called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and an end to strikes on the country.

But Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbour since and kept soldiers deployed in five border areas it deems strategic.

Raggi said Lebanon is exerting diplomatic pressure to push Israel to stop its attacks and withdraw its troops.

Hezbollah has strongly rejected the disarmament bid, accusing the government of implementing US and Israeli directives.

Before the war and the overthrow of its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad shifted the balance of power in the region, Hezbollah was the most powerful political force in Lebanon, able to sway and disrupt governments.

It was the only group to keep its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of resistance against Israel, which occupied the south until 2000.

Published – September 09, 2025 10:02 pm IST

A man walks near a flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the group’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel’s air and ground offensive in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam on January 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Israeli military said on Friday (January 31, 2025) it struck several Hezbollah targets overnight in the Bekaa Valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The Army said the targets include a facility used for underground weapons development and another associated with the smuggling of arms into Lebanon.

On January 30 2025, Israel said it intercepted a surveillance drone launched by Hezbollah calling it “a breach of the ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel reached a ceasefire in late November, ending a deadly conflict that began with the Gaza war in 2023. The U.S. confirmed on Sunday that the agreement, which includes a 60-day period for Israeli troop withdrawal, will remain in effect until Feb. 18, extending the original Jan. 26 deadline.

Israel has carried out multiple strikes on Lebanese territory since the ceasefire extension killing and injuring more than 100 people.

The most recent attack is a drone strike that injured at least five people in southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selm.

Israeli authorities did not blame the explosion on Hezbollah or say it was a violation of the November 26 ceasefire agreement. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Four Israeli soldiers who were killed in southern Lebanon were likely killed in an accidental detonation of explosives as they demolished a Hezbollah tunnel laden with weapons, Israel’s Army Radio reported on Monday (December 9, 2024).

The Israeli military said that four soldiers fell in combat, without providing further details. Army Radio said that the incident happened on Sunday (December 8, 2024) and that an initial review found that the detonation set off secondary explosions, leading to the collapse of the tunnel while the soldiers were in it.

Israeli authorities did not blame the explosion on Hezbollah or say it was a violation of the November 26 ceasefire agreement, though the two sides have accused each other of other infractions over the past two weeks.

Rubble lies at the site of the historic ‘Al-Manshiya’ building damaged in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, near the Roman ruins of Baalbek, in the eastern city of Baalbek, Lebanon, November 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military on Thursday (November 28, 2024) said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.

There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel’s aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.

The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers.

On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.

A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief media.

The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.

In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.

Men carry Hezbollah flags and a picture depicting late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as they drive past damaged buildings at the entrance of Beirut’s southern suburbs, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on November 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began at 7.30 am IST on Wednesday (Nov. 27, 2024) appeared to be holding under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France. Following the announcement of the truce, people in both countries started returning to homes in the border area shattered by 14 months of fighting.

The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in years. But Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire deal and thanked both the US and France for their efforts.

In the first statement by Hezbollah’s operations centre since the truce was announced, the group made no direct mention of the ceasefire and vowed to continue its resistance.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the ceasefire was “the first ray of hope” in months of Middle East conflict.

The Blue Line was set by the UN in 2000 after the end of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon and now serves as a de facto border between the two countries.

What is UNSC resolution 1701?

The UN Security Council resolution 1701 is the agreement that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006 and it stipulates that the only armed groups in the area south of Lebanon’s Litani River should be the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces (UN Interim Force in Lebanon – UNIFIL). It also prohibits Israel from encroaching on Lebanese territory by land, sea or air.

Present situation in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s army, entrusted with ensuring the ceasefire lasts, said it had begun deploying additional troops south of the Litani River into a region heavily bombarded by Israel. The river meets the sea about 30 km (20 miles) north of the Israeli border.

Israel also struck eastern cities and towns and the southern suburbs of Beirut, and Israeli troops pushed around 6 km (4 miles) into Lebanon in ground incursions launched in September. Under the ceasefire terms, Israeli forces can remain in Lebanon for 60 days.

Israel-Lebanon conflict

The ceasefire aims to end a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed at least 3,768 people in Lebanon since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Diplomatic efforts will now turn to shattered Gaza, where Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israeli communities. However, there were no hopes of peace returning any time soon to the Palestinian enclave.

(With inputs from Reuters, Graphic News, and AP)