Israel strikes kill five in southern Lebanon hours after Trump announces ceasefire deal

At least five people were killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA). The strikes came just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a deal aimed at de-escalating hostilities, though neither Israel nor Hezbollah has publicly accepted it.

NNA reported that two Syrians died in an Israeli strike on a plant nursery where they were working in the town of Jebchit, Nabatieh province. Israeli drone strikes also hit a motorcycle on Martyr Sabra Street in Toul and a car in the Dhi'at al-Arab neighborhood of Ansar, killing two people. Another drone attack killed a car driver in Nabatieh.

The attacks followed Trump's claim that he held separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah leaders, and declared that Israel and the Iran-backed group had agreed to de-escalate attacks. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said under the deal, Hezbollah would stop firing into Israel, while Israeli forces would halt strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

The developments come after a serious escalation, with Israeli forces launching their deepest incursion into Lebanon in over two decades, carrying out heavy shelling and threatening to attack Beirut's suburbs, risking a breach of the ceasefire in the broader US-Israel conflict with Iran.

Israel's military said its air defense intercepted two rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Tuesday morning, hours after Trump's statement. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reported from Beirut: "Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any cross-border attacks since Trump's announcement. However, the group has claimed attacks on Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon. This shows how fragile the deal is." She added that Hezbollah remains capable of striking Israeli forces, noting at least two Israeli soldiers died in the last 24 hours near Beaufort Castle.

Israel's military on Saturday captured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic hillside in southern Lebanon. A day earlier, the military reported one of the heaviest barrages from Lebanon since the April ceasefire.

Netanyahu said he told Trump in their call that "if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our towns and citizens, Israel will attack terrorist targets in Beirut." Trump maintained the deal was reached after a "very effective" call with Netanyahu and expressed hope Israel and Hezbollah would stop fighting "forever!" He also claimed to have had a "very good" call with senior Hezbollah representatives, in which "all shelling will stop."

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into conflict with Iran on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader. Tehran stresses Lebanon must be included in any peace deal with Washington. According to Iran's Tasnim news agency, Tehran is no longer engaged in negotiations with Washington due to Israeli attacks. The statements came ahead of the fourth round of US-mediated direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began on April 17, but both sides have failed to comply and continue to accuse each other of violations. According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed at least 3,433 people in Lebanon. Israel's military confirmed two of its soldiers died over the weekend in southern Lebanon, raising the number of Israeli soldiers killed since early March to 27.