A Lebanese woman weeps as she sits on the rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Qennarit on Saturday [Getty]
Lebanon’s health ministry has announced that 83 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the country on Friday, with 141 others wounded.
The deadliest attack was in Nabatieh in south Lebanon, where 17 people were killed. Other fatalities were reported across several southern districts, while three people were killed in the eastern Baalbek district.
The latest deaths bring the toll since all-out fighting resumed between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on 2 March to 4,057, with more than 12,120 people wounded, according to the ministry. This is in addition to thousands more killed since hostilities began between Hezbollah and Israel in October 2023.
Hours later, according to Israel’s Channel 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to cease its attacks but instructed troops to remain in areas they have occupied in southern Lebanon. The channel said Netanyahu’s decision to implement a ceasefire came in coordination with the United States.
A ceasefire was due to come into effect at 1600 local time on Friday but failed to take hold as Israeli attacks continued beyond the deadline. Hezbollah said Israel had committed more than 300 violations since the start of Friday.
Nabatieh and its surroundings continued to come under heavy attack on Saturday. Israeli forces have gradually advanced towards the city, battling Hezbollah fighters in nearby areas for weeks, but have so far failed to capture the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. Additional casualties were reported across southern Lebanon on Saturday.
Earlier this week, the Israeli military published a map of its self-proclaimed “security zone” in southern Lebanon, extending up to 10 kilometres beyond the border and covering around six percent of Lebanese territory.
Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have said Israeli forces will remain in this zone until Hezbollah is disarmed, a demand the group has rejected unless Israel ends its war and withdraws from southern Lebanon.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding that ended hostilities in Iran and the Gulf explicitly included a ceasefire in Lebanon. Tehran has said that future negotiations with Washington depend on Israel halting its attacks on Lebanon.
