The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict continued to flare on Friday despite a ceasefire that has been in effect since April 17, with strikes reported on both sides of the border. In southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry and the country’s state-run National News Agency.
The Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit the southern village of Toura, near the port city of Tyre, killing four people and wounding eight. The National News Agency also reported an airstrike near the southeastern village of Kfar Chouba, saying it killed a paramedic with the Lebanese Civil Defense.
The fighting came hours after Israel’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued an evacuation warning to residents in six villages in Tyre province, including Toura. In the early afternoon, Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets toward northern Israel, the Associated Press reported. The Israeli military said it shot down one rocket, while the rest fell in open areas without inflicting casualties.
The ceasefire has not halted violence, with the Associated Press noting that an Israeli airstrike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday. Earlier, the conflict had escalated after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on March 2, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Israel has said it has killed more than 85 Hezbollah militants and struck 180 sites used by the group in the past week, according to the Associated Press report, without providing evidence. Separately, the Israeli military said Thursday that it killed Ahmed Balout, which it identified as a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, along with two other militants. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
While the violence continued, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun met with a visiting European Union delegation and called for pressure on Israel to commit to the ceasefire. Aoun told the delegation that European countries should pressure Israel to abstain from “detonating and bulldozing ” homes in villages under Israeli occupation, and he said Lebanon is committed to the ceasefire as a path to start negotiations meant to end the current conditions.
Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, said after the meeting that Israel and Hezbollah are taking Lebanon “hostage.” Lahbib added that Hezbollah should stop its attacks and disarm, while Israel should put limits to airstrikes targeting humanitarian centers, the Associated Press reported.
Aoun later met with Simon Karam, head of the Lebanese delegation to talks with Israel in Washington. The meeting is expected to be held in Washington on Thursday and Friday next week. Earlier, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades; the two countries have been in a state of war since the founding of Israel in 1948. A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17 and was later extended by three weeks.