Since a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah more than two months ago, fighting has stopped in much of Lebanon, but not on a strategic hill overlooking parts of a main southern city.

In recent weeks, Ali Taher Hill has been the scene of daily shelling and airstrikes by Israel’s military. Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran, has repeatedly attacked Israeli forces in the area with drones.

The United States, which is mediating talks between Lebanon and Israel, had wanted Hezbollah to hand over the hill to the Lebanese army as part of larger plan to disarm the militant group and dismantle its infrastructure. But Hezbollah has refused.

Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement in June stating Israel will withdraw from Lebanon as Hezbollah is disarmed. The militant group was not a party to the negotiations and has rejected calls to disarm in areas north of the Litani river, which is where Ali Taher is located.

A full-on battle over this hill near the city of Nabatiyeh could escalate fighting across the country, and unrest in Lebanon complicates efforts to resolve the war in Iran.

On Thursday (September 3, 2026) night, Israel’s military announced it had taken “operational control” of Ali Taher and a network of tunnels beneath it that Hezbollah uses to shelter its fighters and weapons. It is unclear how far Israel’s control extends. Just before Israel’s announcement, its air force was still targeting the hill, according to Lebanese state media.

There has been no official statement from Hezbollah since Israel’s announcement.

U.S. urges Lebanon to pressure Hezbollah

Hezbollah firmly rejected a proposal from the Lebanese government to hand over Ali Taher to the country’s army. It fears Israel would then seize control of the hill from the Lebanese army and then demand the handover of more territory.

Israel had occupied Ali Taher for 18 years before it withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

The hill has a strategic location overlooking several villages as well as main roads leading to Nabatiyeh. Losing full control of it would disrupt Hezbollah’s presence and supply lines in the area.

The Israeli military says the site is also important to Hezbollah because of tunnels it built there, with funding from Iran.

Israel said in its statement Thursday (September 3) that the hill housed underground command centres, weapons storage rooms, generators, living quarters, showers and a kitchen.

Israel said it cleared Ali Taher of Hezbollah fighters and was working to “neutralise underground infrastructure sites.” Hezbollah legislator Ihab Hamadeh questioned why the Israeli military was still attacking the hill if it was really in control of the area, according to the Arabic-language version of Russia’s state-funded news outlet Sputnik. An Associated Press photographer who visited the nearby village of Kfar Rumman on Friday (September 4) saw no sign of Israeli military presence on the hill.

The hill, topped with a shrine to a Muslim scholar, sits north of the Litani river, which has become the de facto boundary of the area captured by Israel since its latest war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks

“Israel has been conducting military operations around Ali Taher since July,” said Nasser Khdour, a Middle East researcher at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, a U.S.-based group that tracks conflicts around the world.

Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati told a Lebanese podcaster in late August that the group’s fighters were repelling attempts by Israeli troops to take Ali Taher. But he and others downplayed the significance of the site should Israel take it.

“Ali Taher is important, but if it is lost it does not mean the end of Hezbollah,” Mr. Qamati said.

In mid-August, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon that it described as retaliation for a Hezbollah drone attack on Ali Taher that seriously wounded three soldiers. The Israeli strikes, which killed 11 people, including women and children, were the deadliest since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late June.

On August 27, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes, killing one person and wounding six, after the military said Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops in the area. Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for any of the attacks.

Lebanon says Israel is hindering its army

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told an Arab TV station in late August that the Lebanese army was ready to take over Ali Taher.

He accused Israel of blocking the army due to its own political considerations ahead of Israeli national elections on October 27.

“The problem is not in the Lebanese army’s readiness but in Israel’s stance,” he said.

Lebanese and Israeli officials are set to meet for negotiations in Rome later this month. Meanwhile, Hezbollah, which has always refused to speak directly to the U.S., appears to be changing its policy after the major setbacks it has suffered during its wars with Israel since 2024.

A Lebanese official told The Associated Press that indirect contacts are going on between the U.S. and Hezbollah, but refused to give any details. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, said recently that Washington is ready to speak with Hezbollah if the group agrees to disarm.

Still, Hezbollah is not likely to take any move forward regarding talks with the U.S. without a green light from its main backer, Iran. While talks with the U.S. over their war have stalled, Iran has sought guarantees that Israel will halt its attacks on Hezbollah as part of any permanent deal.

What capture of Ali Taher could mean

The capture of Ali Taher would open the way to Nabatiyeh and also lead to the nearby Apple Province and Rihan Mountain, where Hezbollah has been building up its presence since the late 1990s.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly pledged to leave troops in Lebanon and threatened to escalate military pressure until Hezbollah disarms.

“Israeli control of the area is an operational and military setback for Hezbollah,” said Mr. Khdour of ACLED. He said clearing these sites helps Israel protect towns in the northern part of its country, and increases pressure on Hezbollah.

“This will strengthen Israel’s position in any future negotiations over its withdrawal,” said Mr. Khdour.

Published – September 05, 2026 02:50 pm IST

Israeli troops entered a southern Lebanese village early on Friday (May 29, 2026), pushing deeper into the country as Lebanese and Israeli military officials held direct talks at the Pentagon over the deadly conflict.

The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the village of Ebba, state media reported.

Also read: West Asia war updates on May 30, 2026

In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation met on Friday (May 29, 2026) with Israeli military officials in the first direct military talks between the two countries in decades.

The Pentagon, in a statement released late on Friday (May 29, 2026), said the talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements. It said the talks “focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and the “tangible outcomes” from their discussions will directly inform the negotiations with political leaders being conducted by the State Department next week.

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.

A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese military official told The Associated Press earlier on Friday (May 29, 2026) that the Lebanese delegation, led by the army’s head of operations Brigadier General George Rizkallah, would aim to make it comprehensive.

The official added the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.

Another Lebanese official, who was briefed throughout the day about the talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing hostilities.

He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on matters, such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.

President Joseph Aoun’s office said he received a call on Friday (May 29, 2026) from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun’s office said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on implementing the ceasefire, as it is “the essential entry point for transitioning to any other issues”.

In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington in more than three decades.

The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon on Friday (May 29, 2026), forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas further north.

Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani river, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.

Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli troops inside Yohmor.

The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if Israeli troops were trying to capture the castle, which lies north of the Litani.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern front on Friday (May 29, 2026), where he spoke to members of the military. “I must tell you that there are very impressive results here. Our forces have crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he said.

“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa, across the entire width of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow,” Mr. Netanyahu said, referring to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Israel’s air force struck on Thursday (May 28, 2026).

The violence in southern Lebanon came as US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement on Thursday (May 28, 2026) to extend the ceasefire in the three-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President J.D. Vance on Thursday evening (May 28, 2026) confirmed there was a tentative agreement but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.

Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said on Friday (May 29, 2026) that any deal between Iran and the US would stop Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Officials in Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, have said that they insist that a deal with Washington would stop the latest Israel-Hezbollah war that started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has left 3,200 people dead in Lebanon and over one million (10 lakh) people displaced.

Published – May 30, 2026 09:03 am IST

Military officers from Lebanon and Israel are set to meet in Washington as Israeli strikes continue amid heightened regional tensions.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says “We will not surrender and we will continue to defend Lebanon and its people, however long it takes and however great the sacrifices…” File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Displaced people load their belongings onto a vehicle as they prepare to return home after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Sidon, Lebanon, April 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters