The Israeli military said Tuesday that Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, the first major breach of the 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire that began April 16. The attack came ahead of U.S.-mediated talks between the Israeli and Lebanese governments scheduled for this week.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, though the Iran-backed group has previously said it reserves the right to respond to any Israeli action it perceives as aggressive. The ceasefire terms allow Israel to respond only to “imminent threats from Hezbollah,” a formulation the group has disputed.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam addressed the situation Tuesday at a joint press conference in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron. Salam said Lebanon “isn’t seeking a confrontation with Hezbollah but won’t be intimidated” by the Iran-backed militia either. Salam’s government has struggled to assert authority over Hezbollah-controlled areas of southern Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect.
The breach comes days after a French UN peacekeeper was killed in southern Lebanon on the second day of the ceasefire, an incident France attributed to Hezbollah. The accumulating violations have raised concerns that the 10-day truce will not hold through its scheduled end, and that continued Israel-Lebanon friction will further complicate the parallel U.S.-Iran negotiations — Iran backs Hezbollah, and regional tensions are deeply interconnected.
The Lebanon front adds a second layer of complication to Trump’s Tuesday decision to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire indefinitely. Tehran has demanded guarantees that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah will not resume as part of any comprehensive U.S.-Iran deal, making developments in southern Lebanon directly relevant to Hormuz and blockade negotiations.