Israel attacks southern Lebanon after first direct talks in decades

Less than a day after Israel and Lebanon held their first direct talks in decades, the Israeli military launched a new round of air strikes in southern Lebanon.

Residents of the towns of Mijader, Barahit, Jabba and Maruna were told to evacuate the area around a weapons warehouse that the Israeli military claimed belonged to an Iranian-backed group. There have been no reports of casualties.

An Israeli military spokesman said the sites violated the ceasefire and warned that operations would continue to “eliminate any threat to Israel.”

Since a ceasefire came into effect in November 2024, after 13 months of conflict, Israel has launched almost daily attacks on Lebanon.

Lebanese leaders had no immediate comment on Thursday’s attack. Lebanese politicians have previously condemned similar attacks as violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Under the first phase of the deal brokered by the United States and France, Israeli troops will withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah withdraws its fighters and weapons from south of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border – a plan that the group and its allies oppose.

In recent weeks, Israel has maintained positions at several strategic border locations and stepped up airstrikes. Officials said the escalation was driven by Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its military infrastructure and what they saw as limited efforts by the Lebanese government to disarm the group.

Thursday’s attack came less than 24 hours after Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to the Lebanese border town of Naqoura for their first direct talks in decades.

The talks, held at the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL headquarters, took place on the sidelines of a meeting of the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, which has so far included only officers from the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the meeting “took place in a good atmosphere” and “agreed to develop a number of ideas to advance possible economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon.”

The statement also said that the Israeli envoy “clarified that Hezbollah’s disarmament is mandatory regardless of any progress in economic cooperation.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was more cautious, saying that Lebanon was “still far away” from normalizing diplomacy with Israel and that the focus of the talks was to “ease tensions.”

“We are not yet engaged in peace negotiations,” he told reporters. He said Lebanon’s top priorities were the cessation of hostilities, the release of Lebanese detainees held by Israel and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory.

He added that Beirut was open to deploying French and American troops to help verify efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

The latest attacks and diplomatic moves coincide with a visit by a United Nations Security Council delegation to Lebanon to review implementation of the ceasefire agreement.