Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 11 people, including two children and their father, a day after US President Donald Trump said Israel and the militant group Hezbollah agreed to dial back fighting.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has launched dozens of projectiles and drones towards Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and Israeli cities and towns in recent days as Israel’s air strikes killed dozens, including women and children, in Lebanon.
Hezbollah did not carry out any attacks on Israel after Mr Trump’s announcement.
The ongoing hostilities — despite Mr Trump’s announcement and a nominal ceasefire that began in April — are deepening displacement for Lebanon’s conflict-weary population.
They also are a significant sticking point in negotiations to extend a ceasefire in the US-Israeli war in Iran, as the Islamic Republic wants any such deal to end fighting in Lebanon, too.
Two semi-official Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday that the country cut off communication with mediators facilitating the ceasefire talks.
Another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon began on Tuesday in Washington, where Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks.
The talks began in April and were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.
The planned talks come days after Israeli ground troops made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years and Israel then threatened to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, causing panic in the Lebanese capital as thousands fled.
Mr Trump said on Monday he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had communicated with Hezbollah through mediators, and that no troops would be “going to Beirut”. But the intensity of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah continued.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel previously refrained from attacking Beirut out of deference to negotiations between the US and Iran.
But he said Mr Netanyahu informed Mr Trump in a phone call on Monday that Israel will attack Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah continues targeting northern Israel, echoing comments from the prime minister the previous day.
Lebanon’s top political authorities insist that the talks must continue, despite Beirut’s struggles in stopping the strikes, and the mounting pressure from more than one million displaced people living in difficult conditions.
“Negotiations is the least costly option on Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said. “It is the shortest road to the occupation and allow our people in the south to return to the cities and villages.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with the city of Nabatiyeh, killing a dentist from the nearby Christian town of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son.
The Lebanese army said two soldiers were wounded when a separate drone targeted them on a road outside the city.
A drone strike on the village of Jibchit killed two Syrians who worked at a plant nursery, the agency reported, while another on the nearby village of Toul killed two people. A third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing one person.
Two other air strikes on southern Lebanon killed three people, according to NNA.
NNA also reported that an Israeli air strike on Monday killed six in the southern village of Marwaniyeh.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday its fighters fired anti-tank missiles on Israeli troops who were pushing into the southern village of Hadatha, about four miles from the Israeli border.
Sirens sounded in several areas in northern Israel, the military said in a statement, adding that “a suspicious aerial target” was identified in the area in which Israeli soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon, and that no injuries were reported.
Despite a Washington-brokered ceasefire reached in April, the two sides have continued to exchange strikes after Israel targeted areas in Lebanon, saying it was for self-defence.
The Israel-Lebanon talks that began in April in Washington were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.
The fighting presents a major obstacle to the emerging deal to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war that erupted after the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28.
Tehran wants any agreement to include a complete ceasefire in Lebanon.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million people. According to Mr Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defence contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Israel’s military said late Monday that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon. It added that seven more soldiers were wounded in the incident, three of them severely.
Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fibre-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.