Israel Strikes Lebanon As Two-Week Ceasefire Holds, Trump Says U.S. Forces Stay Until Iran Deal

A fragile two-week ceasefire across West Asia appeared to be largely holding even as tensions escalated after Israel’s largest strikes on Lebanon in the current phase of the conflict, with hundreds reported killed or wounded after Israeli airstrikes hit densely populated areas in Beirut and southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it eliminated a close aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem in a strike near Beirut while also targeting weapons depots, launchers, and command centres across southern Lebanon.

Al Jazeera

Hezbollah also fired rockets toward Israeli border communities, triggering sirens in northern Israel, though exchanges were more limited compared to previous days.

US President Donald Trump said American forces will remain in place until a full agreement is reached with Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled that operations against Hezbollah will continue until security is restored for residents in northern Israel.

Iran insists Lebanon is part of the ceasefire agreement, while the United States and Israel maintain the truce applies only to direct US-Iran hostilities, and President Masoud Pezeshkian called the attacks a violation of the initial ceasefire agreement.

In a separate account of the negotiations, the Council on Foreign Relations warned that Israel’s Lebanon attacks could become “a spoiler to the MOU framework,” as analysts cautioned that persistent Israeli military actions could negatively impact the final 60-day ceasefire negotiations.

Al Jazeera

The Korean-language report also quoted Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declaring, “We are not bound by the U.S.-Iran agreement regarding Lebanon,” while demanding Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Israel’s ongoing occupation of southern Lebanon and additional attacks as “a violation of the agreement,” stating, “The war is not fully over unless Israeli forces withdraw from territories occupied during the conflict.”

European diplomats have called for Lebanon to be included in the broader ceasefire, warning that continued strikes risk collapsing the fragile truce, while the Israeli military said it targeted weapons depots, launchers, and command centres across southern Lebanon.

The TRT عربي report said Israeli warplanes targeted the town of Nabatieh al-Fouqa and the eastern outskirts of the town of Kfar Tebnit, while a drone carried out a raid on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani region.

It also said that a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran is scheduled to be signed in Switzerland on Friday, which would pave the way to end the war and begin negotiations lasting two months.

In parallel, the Lebanese National News Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes in the past two days killed at least five people in southern Lebanon, including four who were killed on Tuesday, as displaced people began returning to check their towns where there are no Israeli forces.