Israel killed at least 16 people in strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, local authorities said, as renewed fighting with Hezbollah placed the new US-Iran ceasefire agreement under immediate pressure.
Lebanon’s civil defense agency said its teams transported 16 dead and 12 wounded to hospitals after working since the early morning in the Nabatieh district. The agency said ongoing attacks had targeted the area.
The violence came despite reports of a renewed ceasefire aimed at ending persistent clashes that now threaten the wider agreement signed this week between Washington and Tehran.
Lebanon fighting disrupts US-Iran diplomacy
The latest escalation followed a new outbreak of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel on Friday. As a result, mediators canceled talks in Switzerland that were expected to begin turning the current interim US-Iran agreement into a more detailed deal covering Iran’s nuclear program.
The interim agreement calls for a halt to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. However, Israeli ministers, officials, and commentators have sharply criticized the deal, arguing that it limits Israel’s ability to counter threats from Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets after overnight projectile launches from the Iran-aligned Lebanese militant group.
Family killed in strike on barish
One of Saturday’s deadliest strikes hit a three-story residential building in Barish, a town in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon. A local village official told Reuters that the attack killed a father, a mother, and their two children.
The new round of violence began Friday after Hezbollah hit an Israeli tank, killing four Israeli soldiers, including a senior officer. Hezbollah said it launched the strike after Israel violated a previous ceasefire agreement by advancing.
Israel then carried out attacks across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Local authorities said those strikes killed 47 people.
Lebanese news sources report that four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Barish in southern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/3rwvJzJxND
— IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) (@iribnews_irib) June 20, 2026
Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon remains unclear
The exact status of the new ceasefire, reportedly reached locally on Friday evening, remains unclear. Hezbollah has said it will respect a ceasefire if Israel does the same, but the group has not confirmed that a ceasefire is now in place.
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah parliamentarian in Lebanon, said the group retained the right to respond to Israeli attacks.
“There is talk of a ceasefire. For us, what concerns us is that the enemy fully … doesn’t attempt to attack our country and villages or seek to occupy any new position,” he said in a statement.
Strait of Hormuz reopens under deal
Meanwhile, the interim US-Iran agreement has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, the waterway carried about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied gas supplies. Tehran had closed it to most shipping shortly after the conflict began.
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah signed the agreement. Still, the deal calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and respect for the country’s sovereignty.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until Israel eliminates any threat. Hezbollah has refused to stop its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon. Iran has also said an Israeli withdrawal remains a condition of the deal.
Iran plans more talks as Israel strikes Lebanon, testing US-Iran ceasefire
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Saturday that consultations through mediators continued over the next phase of negotiations for a final US-Iran agreement.
Baghaei said the Switzerland talks were not urgent because the initial deal had been signed digitally earlier this week. He added that officials were planning a meeting in the coming days.
The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, although they can extend the deadline. Many observers warn that two months may not be enough to resolve such a complex issue. The 2015 nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term, took more than 18 months to negotiate.
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