Israel and Lebanon agree to conditional ceasefire

Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire and create security zones in southern Lebanon that would exclude Hezbollah, but new strikes and warnings from Israel and Iran underscored how quickly the deal could unravel.

The agreement, announced after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington, requires a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of Hezbollah operatives from areas south of the Litani River, according to a joint statement from the United States, Lebanon and Israel. The two countries also agreed to establish “pilot” zones where the Lebanese armed forces would take exclusive control “to the exclusion of all non-state actors.”

“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,” the statement said. “All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”

Hezbollah was not part of the talks and had not immediately responded to the ceasefire framework. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was awaiting responses from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement before announcing next steps, Al Jazeera reported. Aoun told reporters the deal could begin to be implemented within 24 hours of final approval.

The Washington meetings were the fourth round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats. Al Jazeera reported that the two sides are expected to meet again the week of June 22 “with a view towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.”

Fighting continued after the announcement. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, including an attack on a car that wounded a man, his wife and daughter. Al Jazeera reported additional strikes in the Tyre and Nabatieh areas. Hezbollah said it fired a “salvo of rockets” at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the southern Lebanese town of Qantara and launched two drones at an Israeli command position near Beaufort Castle. The Israeli military said it intercepted a “hostile aircraft” and two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that Israel’s military would continue fire and ground operations in southern Lebanon and would remain in what Israel describes as a buffer zone. He said civilians displaced from the area would not be allowed to return for now, according to Al Jazeera.

“The IDF will, at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations, remain in the security zone in Lebanon up to the Yellow Line — including in the Beaufort area — and without the return of the population, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure on the ground,” Katz said. He added that Israel retained the “freedom of action, with American backing, to strike in Beirut in response to fire on Israeli communities and territory.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that an Israeli attack on Beirut would lead to a wider war. “Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war,” he said, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency. “Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut.”

Araghchi said messages were still being exchanged with the United States, though there was no formal negotiating process. “Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process,” he told Al Mayadeen TV.

He also said Iran was prepared to continue fighting if necessary but was not seeking war. “If rationality prevails, war will not resume,” he said.

Separately, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said a peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded when mortar shells struck their base near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon. Serbia’s defense ministry identified the peacekeeper as Senior Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic. UNIFIL said it had opened an investigation and had detected “an increasingly high number of trajectories and impacts in South Lebanon.”

“The violence must end,” the mission said.

In Gaza, Israeli attacks on apartments in Gaza City killed at least nine people overnight, including four children, according to sources at al-Shifa Hospital cited by Al Jazeera.