IDF Chief Eyal Zamir Says No Ceasefire as Israel Strikes Hezbollah Sites in Taybeh

Israel’s military campaign in southern Lebanon has continued despite a US-mediated ceasefire that began on April 17 and was extended on April 24 for an additional three weeks, with the IDF chief of staff telling troops there is “no ceasefire.”

“Lebanon’s prime minister has accused Israel of perpetrating a “heinous crime” in the targeting and killing of civil defence emergency workers, three of whom were among five people killed in a double Israeli strike in southern Lebanon”

Al Jazeera

In a visit to soldiers posted in southern Lebanon, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said that “there “is no ceasefire,” as Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire despite a truce that’s been in place for almost two weeks,” according to The Times of Israel.

Al Jazeera

Zamir spoke in the southern Lebanese town of Taybeh, a border village where Israeli troops are deployed, and he said the IDF “will not tolerate” Hezbollah’s attacks while also insisting Israel will not leave the security buffer zone it holds in south Lebanon.

The IDF chief framed the mission as positioning forces “along the line to prevent direct fire on the communities,” adding, “We have achieved this; this is the line we are on. We may be required to remain on it.”

He also said, “On the combat front, there is no ceasefire; you continue to fight, to remove direct and indirect threats from the northern communities, to thwart terror infrastructure, to locate and kill terrorists,” and he added, “Any threat, anywhere, to our communities or our forces, including beyond the Yellow Line and north of the Litani [River], will be removed.”

The Times of Israel reported that during Zamir’s visit the IDF continued operations, saying it struck “some 20 Hezbollah sites with airstrikes and artillery shelling” in Baraashit and Shaqra on Wednesday morning.

In parallel, BBC reporting described a “war crime” accusation after successive Israeli air strikes killed rescue workers in Majdal Zoun on Tuesday, underscoring how the ceasefire has not stopped lethal attacks on emergency personnel.

Lebanon’s officials and prime minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of a “war crime” after a double Israeli strike killed rescue workers in southern Lebanon, even as a US-brokered ceasefire reduced but did not end hostilities.

The BBC reported that “Two successive Israeli air strikes on a building in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed nine people, including three emergency workers,” and it said the Lebanese health ministry described the prime minister’s characterization as a “war crime.”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

The BBC added that the three members of the Lebanese Civil Defense were sent to rescue those wounded in the first strike in Majdal Zoun, but they were trapped under rubble caused by the second strike and “later confirmed dead.”

The BBC named the three rescue workers killed on Tuesday as Hussein Ghadbouni, Hussein Sati and Hadi Daher.

Al Jazeera similarly reported that Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel of perpetrating a “heinous crime” in targeting and killing civil defence emergency workers, and it quoted Salam saying, “Targeting elements of the Civil Defence in Majdal Zoun, and their killing while carrying out their humanitarian duty, constitutes a new and described war crime perpetrated by Israel.”

Al Jazeera also said Salam added, “It represents a flagrant violation of the principles and rules of international humanitarian law,” and that “The government will spare no effort to condemn this heinous crime in international forums and to mobilise all efforts to compel Israel to cease its ongoing violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

A spokesperson for the Lebanese Civil Defence told Reuters that the three rescuers were “initially trapped under rubble by the second Israeli strike and were later confirmed to have died in the attack,” according to Al Jazeera.

Beyond the Majdal Zoun incident, multiple outlets described ongoing Israeli strikes and shelling across southern Lebanon, including attacks on towns and roads and repeated displacement orders.

Middle East Eye reported that “Israeli attacks continue on several towns and villages located in southern Lebanon,” saying warplanes reportedly launched assaults on Beit Yahoun and Jmaijmeh, as the state-owned National News Agency (NNA) reported, and it said “Three separate air strikes also targeted several residential buildings and roads across Bint Jbeil.”

Euronews described a broader pattern in which Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed eight people including three rescue workers, while it also reported additional strikes in Jebchit and Jwaya, and it said Lebanon’s army reported two troops were wounded “as a result of a hostile Israeli targeting of an army patrol.”

Euronews also reported that Israel issued a fresh evacuation order aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns, urging them to “head northwards,” and it quoted the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee writing on X that the evacuation warning urged residents to leave “immediately” and move “towards the Sidon District.”

The same Euronews report said that shortly afterwards state media said Israel carried out airstrikes across the south, hitting targets that appeared to be outside or on the border of the “yellow line,” an Israeli military-occupied “buffer zone” that stretches 10 kilometres.

Al-Manar TV Lebanon described the ceasefire as not applying in southern Lebanon, saying Israeli warplanes intensified attacks on Thursday and struck towns in Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, and Tyre districts, including Toul, Harouf, Jibshit, Burj Qalaway, Haris, and Srifa, and it said a drone strike targeted a motor cycle in Srifa.

Al-Manar also reported artillery shelling in towns including Yuhmor Al-Shaqeef, Maifadoun, Zawtar Al-Shariqiya, Bint Jbeil, Hadatha and Rshaf, and it said the town of Byout Al-Seyyad was subjected to shelling using phosphorus munitions.

NPR described a pattern of Israeli destruction in southern Lebanon that mirrors Gaza, focusing on villages and towns now occupied by Israeli troops and the “yellow line” marking the swath of land.

In Mansouri, Lebanon, NPR reported that the center of the village “lies in ruins,” with shops blown out, homes crumpled, and a mosque blackened and burned, while a Lebanese civil defense emergency vehicle was crushed next to rubble.

BBC

NPR said Mansouri is about six miles from the country’s border with Israel but now lies less than a mile from what Israel has called the “yellow line” in the south, marking land occupied by Israeli troops.

The report quoted Abed Ammar, a 35-year-old emergency responder, describing controlled demolitions in neighboring villages now occupied by Israel, saying, “The demolitions are louder than airstrikes,” and “We can hear them very clearly from here.”

NPR said Israel has been publishing videos on social media and in releases to the press showing neighborhoods “eviscerated in seconds,” and it reported that Israel says it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure to create what it calls a “buffer zone” along its border.

NPR also reported that Lebanese officials estimate some 62,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of March alone.

The report cited a joint press release by “a group of human rights experts appointed by the United Nations,” quoting that it was “consistent with Israel's actions in Gaza,” and it said the experts wrote about “the continuing utmost contempt for the international legal order, for diplomacy, and above all for the lives of civilians and the environment in Lebanon.”

The conflict in Lebanon is also being framed through the lens of Hezbollah’s drone attacks and the broader regional war dynamics, with outlets tying the ceasefire’s fragility to developments involving Iran and US diplomacy.

The Guardian reported that Hezbollah launched several drones at Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon on Tuesday, and it said Hezbollah claimed the attack injured several Israeli soldiers while Israel said interceptor missiles had been fired at incoming Hezbollah drones.

blue News

The Guardian described Hezbollah’s drones as “small, fibre-optic-guided drones” and said the wired element helps them evade Israeli aerial defences, adding that the drones have a range of up to 9 miles (15km) and have been used to attack Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon almost daily since the ceasefire was established on 17 April.

It also reported that Israeli airstrikes killed 18 people and wounded 88 more in Lebanon over the weekend, citing the Lebanese ministry of health, and it reiterated that at least 2,534 people have been killed and 7,863 wounded by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon since fighting began on 2 March.

The Guardian linked the back-and-forth fire to talks between the US and Iran, quoting US secretary of state Marco Rubio saying any permanent truce needs to include a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme, and it said the statement came after Tehran offered to reopen the strait of Hormuz in return for the US lifting its blockade.

The Guardian also reported that Donald Trump said Iran was in a “state of collapse” due to the blockade in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, and it said Netanyahu promised further strikes against what he said was Hezbollah infrastructure.

In a separate but related thread, The Times of Israel reported that a Channel 12 report said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call with Trump in which Netanyahu asked for further freedom of action in Lebanon and for a two-week time limit on peace talks with Beirut, while Trump insisted Israel “restrain itself.”