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

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol near the southern Lebanese border village of Kfar Kila. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

An Israeli tank is positioned on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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A woman looks at a damaged building through a broken window in her apartment after a rocket fired from Lebanon strikes in the northern Arab city on November 19, 2024 in Shfaram, Israel.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Israeli military said on Tuesday (November 19, 2024) that some 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into central and northern Israel, with first responders reporting that four people were lightly injured by shrapnel.

“Following sirens that sounded between 09:50 and 09:51 in the Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, and Central Galilee areas, approximately 25 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified in the area,” the military said in a statement.

Also read | Lebanon, Hezbollah agree to U.S. proposal for ceasefire with Israel: Lebanese official

That announcement followed earlier reports that some 15 projectiles fired that set of air raid sirens.

A spokesperson for Israeli first responders said that in central Israel it found “four individuals with light injuries from glass shards…. They were injured while in a concrete building where the windows shattered.”

The Israeli police said they were searching the impact sites from projectiles intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems but did not report any serious damage.

On Monday, one person was killed and several people were injured in two separate incidents, one in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram and the other in the suburbs of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.

The military said Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran, fired around 100 projectiles from Lebanon towards Israel on Monday, while Israel’s air force carried out strikes on Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October last year in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Since September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns in Lebanon primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, though some strikes have hit areas outside the Iran-backed group’s control.

Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit at the American Center in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday (October 11, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced hope on Friday (October 12, 2024) for a diplomatic solution in Lebanon and preventing a broader conflict, as he backed efforts by the fragile state to assert itself against Hezbollah.

Mr. Blinken again said that Israel, which has been carrying out deadly strikes on Lebanon, “has a right to defend itself” against Hezbollah, but said he was alarmed by the worsening humanitarian situation.

“We continue to engage intensely to prevent broader conflict in the region,” Mr. Blinken told reporters after an East Asia Summit in Laos.

“We all have a strong interest in trying to help create an environment in which people can go back to their homes, their safety and security and kids can go back to school,” he said.

“So Israel has a clear and very legitimate interest in doing that. The people of Lebanon want the same thing. We believe that the best way to get there is through a diplomatic understanding, one that we’ve been working on for some time, and one that we focus on right now.”

Later in the day, Mr. Blinken spoke by phone with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.

Lebanon’s presidency has been vacant for two years, and Mr. Blinken stressed “the need to empower leadership that reflects the will of the people for a stable, prosperous, and independent Lebanon”.

He said that “Lebanon cannot allow Iran or Hezbollah to stand in the way of Lebanon’s security and stability”.

The statement did not mention discussions on a possible ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

After a year of cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah over the Gaza war, Israel has expanded its operations in Lebanon.

Mr. Blinken said the United States would work to support the fragile Lebanese state to build itself up after Hezbollah’s long-held sway. “It’s clear that the people of Lebanon have an interest — a strong interest — in the state asserting itself and taking responsibility for the country and its future,” he said.

He also said that the United States was voicing concern directly to Israel on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“I have real concern about the inadequacy of the assistance that’s getting to them,” Mr. Blinken said, adding that the United States has been “very directly engaged with Israel” on the topic.