Israel reported on Thursday (August 6, 2026) its first military fatalities in southern Lebanon in more than a month, after carrying out fresh strikes despite ongoing U.S.-backed talks in Rome aimed at ending hostilities.

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The military identified the two reservists, who were killed in combat on Wednesday (August 5, 2026), as Major Harel Birenstock, 34, and Sergeant Major Tamir Vaknin, 33, of the 2855th Battalion, 55th Brigade.

The deaths were the first Israeli fatalities reported in southern Lebanon since June 28.

The Israeli strikes, accompanied by the first evacuation warning in weeks, came as the United States led diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon in Rome aimed at putting an end to hostilities, with Beirut seeking Israel’s phased withdrawal from the south.

“In response to a blatant violation of the ceasefire by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, the IDF has begun conducting precise strikes in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement, shortly after telling residents to evacuate the town of Mansouri in the south.

Lebanese state media said one person died and 11 were wounded in a separate strike.

In Rome, Israel requested that the day’s talks with Lebanon end three hours early, a source in the negotiations told AFP, saying the head of the Israeli delegation, U.S. ambassador Yechiel Leiter, had blamed alleged “misleading leaks” by the Lebanese side.

But the talks were expected to resume on Thursday (August 7, 2026) for a third and final day.

In previous U.S.-sponsored talks in June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon’s south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as “pilot zones”.

This week’s negotiations are the seventh round since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the West Asia war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer, Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

In its first such warning since June, the Israeli military on Wednesday (August 6, 2026) told the residents of Mansouri: “In light of Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defence Forces are compelled to act against it with force.”

“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north,” the military’s Arabic-language spokeswoman, Ella Waweya, posted on X.

The UN’s humanitarian agency had said just the night before that more than 800,000 people displaced by earlier fighting in Lebanon had begun heading back home following the recent lull in violence, though more than 360,000 remained displaced.

The town of Mansouri, located around nine kilometres (six miles) south of Tyre and 10 kilometres north of Israel, and its surroundings were subjected to several Israeli strikes and artillery shelling in recent weeks despite the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel that took hold in June.

The town’s municipality told residents on June 22 that they could return but asked them to avoid the part of the town that fell within Israel’s so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon.

The “security zone” designates a strip of territory where Israeli forces continue to operate that runs around 10 kilometres deep inside southern Lebanon along its border with Israel.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz told his U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth early on Thursday (July 16, 2026) that Israel is determined to keep its forces in “security zones” it has carved out inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Mr. Katz’s office said the two men spoke overnight and the minister “emphasised Israel’s determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces”.

“We have never asked the United States to act in our place along our borders,” Mr. Katz said.

His comments come days after U.S. President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull Israeli forces out of Syria and Lebanon, according to U.S. news outlet Axios.

Citing a U.S. official, Axios reported that Mr. Trump told Mr. Netanyahu the Israeli deployment was fuelling tensions in Syria.

“They don’t want you there. You should redeploy,” Mr. Trump told him, according to Axios.

After the December 2024 overthrow of Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Israel has also carried out repeated incursions into Syrian territory since then, as well as bombings, and has said it wants a demilitarised zone in the country’s south.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces remain deployed in what the military describes as a security zone extending roughly 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanese territory.

Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations, are engaged in talks to end hostilities after militant group Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war by attacking Israel in March.

The two countries concluded their fifth round of talks in Rome on Wednesday.

The U.S.-brokered negotiations are aimed at having Israeli forces steadily withdraw from Lebanon, starting with two “pilot zones” located outside the “security zone” that Israel has established in the south.

In Gaza, Israel’s military controls 60% of the territory and is present on the entire outside perimeter along the borders with Israel and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday (June 26, 2026) that Israel would remain in south Lebanon until Hezbollah disarms, shortly after the announcement in Washington of a framework agreement with the United States and Lebanon.

“The most important thing is, first of all, that Israel remains in the security zone in southern Lebanon. This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video shared with Israeli media shortly after the trilateral framework agreement was announced.

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The agreement — details of which were not announced — is the result of five rounds of talks in Washington aimed at ending decades of hostilities and weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The agreement “begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony.

In his video statement, Mr. Netanyahu added that Israel’s military would also allow the Lebanese army to take control of territory in two areas.

“We are implementing two pilot areas, both at the army’s recommendation. One is entirely outside the security zone and south of the Litani River, while the other is north of the Litani,” a river in south Lebanon.

Mr. Netanyahu added that Lebanese civilians displaced from the so-called “security zone” that Israeli forces established in south Lebanon won’t be allowed to return home.

“We are maintaining the original security zone at all times, outside the range of anti-tank fire. We are not allowing Hezbollah to enter it, nor are we allowing the civilian population to enter,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader West Asia war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel intended to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Israel then launched devastating air strikes and an invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,200 people.

Under U.S. pressure, Lebanese officials began direct talks with Israel in April in Washington, and a truce was announced on April 17 that ultimately failed to stop the fighting.

A new ceasefire was declared this month, with Tehran insisting that its deal with Washington to end the broader conflict launched by the United States and Israel in late February must include Lebanon.

The U.S. and Israel sent a barrage of missiles towards Iran on February 28, 2026 after disagreements over Iran’s nuclear future and U.S.’s security concerns. On Saturday (June 13, 2026), the U.S. said it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting commercial vessels, and Israel resumed it’s strikes on southern parts of Lebanon.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, on June 12, 2026, that the U.S. and Iran have reached a “final, agreed upon text”. He said Pakistan, which has taken the lead in mediation efforts, was working with the warring countries on next steps.

Here are maps, timelines and other graphics tracking the evolution of the conflict.

Strikes

Active hostilities broke out on February 28, 2026, as the U.S. and Israel claimed to have targeted government and military sites in Iran, killing several top-level Iranian officials, including its Supreme Leader Khamenei. Over the next 100 days, with Iran’s retaliations and the increasing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel – especially in southern Lebanon – the war has engulfed West Asia with strikes in Iraq, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Syria.

The start of the war was also marked by a horrific event where the United States bombed a primary school in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan Province, and the surrounding compound which had medical facilities. At least 156 individuals were killed, of which 120 were school children.

The maps below show how the intensity of the war increased over 100 days.

Fatalities

The following graphic shows the list of high ranking Iranian figures, and those that have been targeted and killed by the U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Oil prices

The Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route where almost a fifth of the and a major component of U.S.-Iran talks for lasting ceasefire, has been severely affected with the 7-day moving average of the arrival of ships in the strait dropping to below 10 on most days since February 28, as per the data on the International Monetary Fund’s PortWatch. This is in contrast to the arrivals in the strait last year, as shown in the chart below.

International oil prices have been whipped up into steep climbs ever since the start of the war, with key oil producing countries caught in crossfire between the U.S. and Iran.

The Indian government has pushed for citizens to take up austerity measures like cutting back on fuel consumption and buying Indian products to help support the falling ruppee, as well as promoting Piped Natural Gas (PNG) over the widely used Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for household consumption. This followed a crunch in commercial LPG cylinder supplies, forcing several retail hotels to shut shop in metro cities.

The conflict has also led to an increase in fuel prices in India, with the prices of petrol and diesel hiked by almost ₹7.5 in all metros.

Prices of the 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinders were increased by ₹29 per cylinder on June 7, 2026. This is the second time that the prices were hiked since the war began. The government has justified this move by noting the fact that Indian households still continue to pay the lowest price for cooking gas globally despite a sharp rise in international LPG prices.  

The Beaufort Castle sits right beside the Litani River in southern Lebanon, with an unobstructed view of northern Israel and the sweeping Beqaa valley. The 900-year-old structure, which literally means “beautiful fort” in Old French, has come under renewed spotlight after the Israeli military invasion on June 1.

Originally called Qalaat al-Shaqif, or the “Castle of the High Rock,” Beaufort was built by European crusaders atop older fortifications in 1139. Invaded and besieged multiple times throughout its long history, the bastion has been at the centre of the Israel-Lebanon conflict and a pain point in the fragile ceasefire, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 17.

In 1190, the stately structure was captured by Saladin, the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, who used it as an important border outpost to strengthen his reign. Due to its military importance, the castle has changed hands frequently, with Crusaders (most famously the Knights Templar), Egyptian Mamluks, Ottomans, and the French all leaving their marks on it.

The Frankish Crusaders created its two-storey keep with an entry through the ground floor, unlike other forts of its time. Exposed stone staircases cut directly into the rock were built, forcing visitors and attackers to ascend in a single file on the highly exposed path.

The Mamluks added curved towers to defend against the firing of spherical stones. They inscribed Arabic victory messages into the front gates of the castle. The Ottoman takeover saw the repartitioning of the 15,000-square-metre area for logistical and residential usage. They built barracks and added slits in the fort walls for precise firing.

Internal politics led to many of the early constructions being mined and later restored using crude stone.

The French period saw the stripping away of Ottoman influence and attempts at restoring Crusader architecture. Beaufort has a sharp 300m drop on one side and the valley on the other, protecting it from enemy attacks. This vantage point is still used for military strikes, surveillance, and the deployment of weaponry.

The natural trench between the fortress and the fast-flowing Litani leads to the city of Nabatieh, an ancient centre for the trade of precious spices and commodities like Myrrh and Frankincense in its historical Souk el-Tanen market.

Caught in the war

The sand-battered behemoth is on track to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been included on the country’s ‘tentative list.’ November 2024 saw the global body granting it provisional enhanced protection under the 1954 Hague Convention.

During the 1970s, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) attacked Israel from the fort’s ramparts. Underground bunkers and command centres were constructed, with some going as deep as 65m underground.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, seized the fortress from the PLO, and raised the ‘blue and white’ for the first time. This was a significant moment. Then Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon called the taking of Beirut a war that was “worth it” and rejected the allegations of it being “immoral.”

The banner of Israel came down in 2000 when the Israelis blew up their bunkers and abandoned the castle, when they withdrew from Lebanon after 18 years of occupation. What followed was its opening to the public and years of restoration, with a brief pause in 2006 due to another Israeli invasion.

The 2026 invasion by Israel marks one of the most significant escalations in the conflict since the dawn of the millennium.

In March this year, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In response, Israel launched massive air strikes which were followed by a ground invasion.

The U.S.-backed ceasefire is functionally defunct, with both sides launching attacks against each other. Israel wants to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon and keep the territory it has captured. Hezbollah says it would continue to fight as long as Israel continues the occupation of Lebanese land.

India has condemned the attack on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon that killed a Serbian Blue Helmet and injured two others, and called for an immediate and thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic, a Serbian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was killed when a mortar struck a UN position near Marji’yun in Sector East of the mission’s area of operations on Wednesday (June 3, 2026).

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“Two other peacekeepers from Spain and El Salvador were injured and are undergoing treatment at a UNIFIL medical facility in south Lebanon,” the UN said.

“Our sincere condolences to Serbia and to the family of the Serbian Blue Helmet of UNIFIL who was killed in this deplorable attack,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni said in a social media post on Thursday (June 4, 2026).

Blue Helmets refers to military personnel, police officers, and civilian experts serving under the operational command of the United Nations peacekeeping forces.

The envoy also wished a swift recovery to the injured peacekeepers and stressed that the international community “must come together to ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeepers” operating under UN Security Council mandates.

In a statement, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN condemned the attack, paid tribute to the fallen peacekeeper and wished an early recovery to the injured personnel.

It called for an immediate and thorough investigation into the attack to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure full accountability.

“India reiterates the fundamental importance of respecting the sanctity and inviolability of UN premises and personnel. We call upon all parties to ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeepers, who operate under UN Security Council mandates,” the statement said.

India also urged full adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 2589 on Accountability for Crimes against Peacekeepers, adopted in August 2021 under the country’s Presidency of the Council.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attack, underscoring that all attacks on peacekeepers must be promptly investigated, and those responsible must be effectively prosecuted and held accountable.

A statement by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, noted that seven UNIFIL peacekeepers have been killed and several others wounded since the escalation of hostilities in March this year.

“Attacks on peacekeepers must stop,” Mr. Guterres said, adding that they are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolutions and “may amount to war crimes”.

In March, India condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon and joined nearly 30 troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL in expressing deep alarm at the escalation of hostilities in the West Asian country and condemning Hezbollah’s “reckless decision” to join the Iranian attacks against Israel.

Israeli drone strikes killed at ​least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut on Wednesday (June 3, 2026), Lebanese security ‌sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired ​by Hezbollah.

Hostilities have continued despite a U.S.-mediated agreement announced on Monday (June 1, 2026) that led ⁠Israel to step back from attacking the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Iran-backed group to halt cross-border strikes.

The Israeli military said the hostile aircraft had crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon. An Israeli ‌military spokesperson said it was most likely a drone launched by Hezbollah. The group issued no claim of responsibility.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli drones struck at least ‌10 vehicles across south Lebanon on Wednesday. One raid on the road near the ‌coastal ⁠city of Tyre killed six people, the Lebanese health ministry and Lebanese ⁠state media said.

Another struck a car on the main coastal highway in the Khalde area, several km (miles) south of Beirut, wounding two people.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military to Reuters‘ questions about the drone strikes.

Averting further escalation

The diplomatic moves aimed to avert further escalation of the war that has raged since March 2, ‌when Hezbollah opened fire in solidarity with Iran, which was under U.S.-Israeli attack.

Iran ​has demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of any agreement with the U.S. to end the wider war, and has suggested in recent days ⁠that it could intervene directly in support of Hezbollah if Israel keeps up or escalates attacks in Lebanon.

Israel pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, early in the war but has carried ‌out only two strikes there since Mr. Trump declared a Lebanon ceasefire in April. Iran’s military on Monday warned residents of northern Israel they should flee if Israel attacked Beirut.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) that Israel would strike the southern suburbs if northern Israel was attacked.

Hezbollah said it had carried out 13 operations against Israeli forces on Tuesday in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops are occupying a self-declared security zone.

The Israeli military issued new warnings to ‌residents of six villages and towns in southern Lebanon, telling them to leave their homes because it intended ​to act against Hezbollah.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since March 2, including a total of 705 women, children and medics, ⁠Lebanon’s Health Ministry says. The Health Ministry toll does not say how many combatants are among ⁠the dead.

Israel says 26 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks since March.

Lebanese and Israeli government representatives are due to meet in ‌Washington later on Wednesday for a second consecutive day of talks, their fourth face-to-face encounter facilitated by the United States since the war began.