At least two people were killed and one injured by Israeli gunfire south of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, after days of relative calm amid intensified efforts to secure a US-Iran peace agreement.
Israeli troops opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a road in Al Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh Al Fawqa, with the military claiming they were an armed cell operating on Ali Al Taher Ridge, close to soldiers in its occupation zone.
The Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah rejected the claim, saying the two people killed were civilians, including a municipality employee. It said the shooting was a ceasefire breach but stopped short of threatening retaliation.
It was the first deadly incident since Monday morning, when mediators announced that the US and Iran had agreed to form a “deconfliction cell” to end almost four months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, after peace talks in Switzerland at the weekend.
The latest fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began a day after the launch of a US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran on February 28. The situation in southern Lebanon had been relatively calm since last week, when Iran and the US signed a framework agreement that forms the basis of their peace negotiations.
The agreement calls for a halt to fighting across all fronts, including in Lebanon. However, Israel has not withdrawn its troops from southern Lebanon and continues to occupy positions up to 10km inside Lebanese territory.
In a sign of change, on Tuesday morning an Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade on Kfar Tebnit, a town south of Nabatieh where only days ago Hezbollah and Israel were engaged in fierce combat. Israeli drones, however, could be heard above the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday.
A ceasefire declared on April 17 after the first round of US-hosted direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, as well as subsequent extensions announced by the US, have largely failed to stop the fighting. The two sides will meet again in Washington on Tuesday.
President Joseph Aoun and other Lebanese leaders on Monday rejected any suggestion that another country should negotiate on its behalf.
Intense fighting had largely paused since Saturday evening, after Iran said it would once again close the Strait of Hormuz in response to waves of Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the deconfliction process in Lebanon will be the first real test of the US-Iran talks. Israel has distanced itself from any peace agreement that includes a withdrawal from Lebanon, and its continued military operations and occupation of southern Lebanon have repeatedly threatened to derail regional peace efforts.
Some Israeli officials have called for even harsher action against Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite pressure from the US.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett – a rival of incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu – claimed that soldiers in southern Lebanon could see Hezbollah fighters operating in plain sight but were not allowed to open fire.
Mr Bennett, a former special forces soldier, said his claim was based on conversations with troops serving in Lebanon.
“This is abandonment. There's no such thing as sending our boys against Hezbollah with their hands tied,” he said.
The Israeli military has paused its offensive on Ali Al Taher Ridge, a strategic hill that had been the focal point of recent fighting.
Israel has devoted significant resources to taking the hill, claiming last year that it hosted Hezbollah infrastructure, while the Lebanese group has devoted significant resources to protecting its position.
“There was fierce resistance, of course. There was a lot of preparation for the Nabatieh area, especially north of the Litani River area, which we consider as strategic,” a Hezbollah source told The National.
Based on Hezbollah’s understanding of the November 2024 truce that ended its previous war with Israel, the group was required to move and dismantle its infrastructure south of the Litani River – but could do as it wished elsewhere.
