Hezbollah has said that it will not accept a ceasefire unless Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon.
A ceasefire appeared to have been agreed on Friday afternoon after Israeli strikes killed at least 47 in southern Lebanon earlier in the day, despite the US-Iran deal, which stipulated that war would stop across all fronts.
On Saturday morning, Israeli warplanes struck the Nabatieh and Jezzine regions of southern Lebanon, with five people reported killed.
A Hezbollah source, speaking on Friday on condition of anonymity, said Israel was seeking to alter the situation on the ground. "Hezbollah did not violate any ceasefire," the source said. "It was Israel that attempted to advance and place Nabatieh under its direct control."
He added that the group could not accept a situation in which Israeli forces remain deployed in Lebanese territory while the group is expected to prevent any military response, and said that "there can be no security if the occupation behaves as though it is there to stay".
Despite the Israeli strikes and the fighting, an official familiar with the matter told The National that a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah had begun on Friday.
An earlier Reuters report said both sides had agreed to a ceasefire starting at 4pm Israel time, citing a senior US source. "Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire," the official said, adding that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran.
The Hezbollah source confirmed that contact with the US, through mediators, had intensified over the previous 24 hours as efforts continued to stop the war, but did not confirm that the group had agreed to a new ceasefire.
This would be the sixth ceasefire the two sides have agreed to, with the first cessation of hostilities signed on April 16 and extended, but breached by both parties.
The Israeli military said four soldiers, including a battalion commander, were killed in a Hezbollah attack in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tebnit, in the Nabatieh district, prompting a wave of retaliatory strikes, according to the army.
The army struck "more than 80 command centres, terrorists, launch positions and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area of Nabatieh and other areas in southern Lebanon," it said in a statement. "Furthermore, during the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists operating in the command centres were eliminated."
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir adopted an incendiary tone after the attacks, saying that for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, "a thousand" Lebanese mothers should weep. "All of Lebanon must burn!" he wrote on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to strike Hezbollah "with force" following the deaths of the four soldiers.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the latest Israeli strikes on his country as a “dangerous escalation” that threatens “continuing efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war”.
A halted deal
The escalation comes as technical talks in Switzerland have been delayed, with Israel’s continued military operations and occupation of southern Lebanon among the main sticking points in negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent agreement.
US Vice President JD Vance said he had cancelled his trip to Switzerland, while Iranian officials said their delegation would not attend if there was no sign of US implementation. The agreement has been met with scepticism by some Israeli leaders, who have expressed frustration at being largely excluded from negotiations led by US President Donald Trump.
The US has increased pressure on its ally and issued strong public rebukes of Israeli officials amid concerns that the country's military operations in southern Lebanon could jeopardise the Iran deal.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday night, Mr Vance said: "Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world."
“Historically, I don't think we've ever seen such public criticism of Israel at that level. Never. I've never seen it,” Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut.
A column by journalist Danny Zaken in the newspaper Israel Hayom, headlined “You could have been the greatest President of all, but you failed”, argued that Mr Trump has “gravely harmed the human interests of the enlightened world, and you may be remembered forever as the President who brought about America’s humiliation”. The newspaper is owned by a major donor to Mr Trump in the US.
“You betrayed us, the Israelis. And in a single moment, the contempt you once faced suddenly seems so justified and logical,” it said.
Washington is keen to end a deeply unpopular conflict before the midterm elections, amid growing concerns over a potential global economic recession. “I think Iran is betting on the US pushing Israel to basically withdraw from Lebanon. I see that as a difficult task,” Mr Hage Ali said.
Israel's agreement to the terms of the deal was “surprising”, he said. Many analysts view the interim deal as being tilted in Tehran’s favour. “Now, I think anything is possible after the memorandum of understanding,” he added.
A strategic battle
Clashes concentrated over the strategically important Ali Al Taher ridge continued into Friday morning, as the front line inched closer to the city of Nabatieh, in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it has been confronting the advancing Israelis for four days, with fighters as well as drones and rockets, “inflicting heavy losses on the enemy's officers, soldiers, and military vehicles”.
Hezbollah appears to have devoted significant resources to defending the ridge. Early on Friday, the group said it had killed and wounded several Israeli soldiers and destroyed three tanks in an ambush of Israeli forces attempting to advance towards the northern side of the Ali Al Taher Heights.
“If you look at the past two years, this is the highest morale that Hezbollah has achieved. They feel that they are more capable and more empowered than they were a few months ago,” Mr Hage Ali said.
The Israeli military is believed to be seeking to control the ridge. A few weeks ago Israel troops took over the Beaufort ridge line, which overlooks Ali Al Taher, their deepest incursion into Lebanon since 2000.
According to an updated map of Israel's "security zone", Israeli forces have advanced deeper into Lebanon, reaching areas close to the outskirts of Nabatieh.
“Nabatieh is not simply a large southern city. It is a major transportation hub linking areas south of the Litani River with eastern Lebanon and the western Bekaa Valley,” said retired Lebanese Army Brigadier General Mounir Shehadeh, who has held senior positions in south Lebanon.
He explained that encircling the city would offer Israel several advantages, including isolating Hezbollah-held areas south of the Litani from their northern extensions and securing control of vital road networks in southern Lebanon.
However, he stressed that surrounding a city the size of Nabatieh is very different to capturing a hilltop or a border village. It would require Israel to engage in costly urban warfare, something the Israeli military has generally sought to avoid because of the high risks and lessons drawn from past conflicts
“What is clear, however, is that Israeli pressure is focused on the eastern and south-eastern approaches to Nabatieh, with the apparent aim of moving closer to the city and establishing a fire-control perimeter around it,” he said.
The surge in fighting has forced many residents who returned only days ago to flee north once again, with cars clogging the roads out of the area.
The Israeli military also bombed the Bekaa Valley – historically regarded as an important Hezbollah resource pool and reinforcement line – for the first time in recent days, including its historic city, Baalbek.
“The Bekaa is considered the strategic depth of Hezbollah and its human reservoir,” Mr Shehadeh said. “Separating the south from the Bekaa means the isolation of Hezbollah forces in the south, which reduces their ability to keep fighting for a long time,” he added.
The war resumed when Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel on March 2. Israel's disproportionate retaliation has killed at least 3,912 people, among them women and children. A further 11,699 others have been wounded.
