The ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump after holding separate calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, followed an agreement between the two sides to halt hostilities for 10 days.
However, just five minutes before the ceasefire entered into force, Israeli forces carried out a massacre in the southern city of Tyre, killing 13 people and wounding more than 70 others, while eight people remain missing.
On Friday, an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcycle and a car on the Kounine–Beit Yahoun road in southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded three others, including a Syrian national.
The attack took place less than 24 hours after the US-brokered ceasefire came into effect, marking the first reported fatality since the truce began.
On the second day of the ceasefire, Israeli forces continued to violate the agreement by carrying out detonations in several towns, including Khiam, Bint Jbeil, Aitaroun, Rshaf, and Chamaa. The explosions were heard across long distances in southern Lebanon and along the coast, coinciding with artillery shelling targeting the outskirts of Qantara and Houla.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported that Israeli machine-gun fire targeted the town of Aitaroun, alongside artillery shelling on the town of Kounine.
Israeli artillery also targeted the outskirts of Rshaf in the Bint Jbeil district, while two shells were fired toward the nearby town of Buyut al-Sayyad.
In addition, Israeli forces carried out detonations in the towns of Taybeh and Deir Seryan in an attempt to intimidate returning Lebanese and violate the truce, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani River, the last remaining link connecting southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, effectively isolating the region and renewing fears among many Lebanese of a potential long-term occupation.
Despite the ceasefire, Netanyahu said troops would remain stationed up to 10 kilometres inside southern Lebanon, describing the area as a “security zone” and insisting, “we are there, and we are not leaving.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also described the ceasefire as “temporary,” reiterating demands for Hezbollah to disarm and stating that Israeli forces would continue demolishing homes in border villages and maintain their presence in the south.
Lebanon's defence minister said Katz's remarks reflected "a clear intention to impose a new occupation of Lebanese territory". European nations, Canada, and the United Nations (UN) have also criticized Israel's announcement.
Since Israel escalated its war on Lebanon on 2 March, the occupation army has moved from carrying out sporadic strikes and occupying five positions in the south of Lebanon to a full-scale invasion and carpet bombing of the country.
The Israeli escalation comes on the heels of over 15 months of Israeli attacks on Lebanon and refusal to withdraw in violation of a previous November 2024 ceasefire that was meant to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Since 2 March, Israel’s war on Lebanon has caused widespread displacement and destruction across the country, especially in the south, where more than 1.2 million people have been forcibly displaced, according to UN figures.
Israel has also killed at least 2,294 people and wounded 7,544 others in Lebanon since then, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The death toll includes 100 paramedics and healthcare workers, in addition to civil defence personnel and journalists.
Meanwhile, Al-Mayadeen reported that hundreds of Lebanese people continued returning to their towns and villages in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs for the second day following the ceasefire.
Despite widespread destruction, many pressed on with their return as some shops reopened and limited signs of normal life resumed. Roads leading south were heavily congested as large numbers of people made their way back, with Lebanese army units reopening the Qasmiyeh Bridge to reconnect areas previously cut off by Israeli strikes.
A French contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the area as displaced residents waving Hezbollah flags make their way back to their homes on a makeshift road, built at the site where the Qasmieh bridge was destroyed in Israeli strikes, in the southern Lebanese area of Al-Qasmiyeh. AFP
Hezbollah said in a statement on Friday that its fighters remain ready to respond to any violations, stating that “the Israeli war machine has failed to deter Islamic Resistance fighters.”
“Islamic Resistance fighters will keep their hands on the trigger, maintaining constant readiness to respond to any treachery aggression or breach by the enemy,” added the group.
The ongoing violations by Israel come despite Trump’s public “prohibition” on Israel from bombing Lebanon, declaring that “enough is enough.”
Inside Israel, political opponents have criticized Netanyahu for bowing to US pressure, calling the truce a “failure” ahead of the country’s upcoming October elections.
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