Forty-seven people were killed in southern Lebanon overnight as Israeli air strikes pounded the region – a deadly escalation that threatened to shatter the fragile ceasefire agreed just hours earlier between Israel and Hezbollah.
The renewed violence erupted after Hezbollah ambushed an Israeli group, killing four soldiers. Israel responded with a wave of retaliatory strikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley. Rescue officials in the city of Nabatieh told the BBC there had been at least 12 air strikes since the ceasefire was due to begin at 16:00 local time.
“Trump told Israel to accept ceasefire after 47 killed in Lebanon, as US-Iran talks were cancelled.”
The flare-up posed an immediate challenge to the landmark memorandum of understanding signed this week between the US and Iran, which called for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. A meeting scheduled for Friday in Switzerland between Washington and Tehran to discuss the deal's implementation was abruptly cancelled. The US vice-president, JD Vance, who was expected to lead the talks, pulled out. Staff and journalists had already gathered at Joint Base Andrews in anticipation of the trip. Dozens of White House officials and media were already in Switzerland.
Donald Trump told NBC News he had instructed Israel to accept the ceasefire. “You just gotta calm down sometimes and use your head,” he said. The US president later defended the deal on Truth Social: “We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”
But Washington Post reported that US intelligence officials are concerned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try to undermine the US-Iran peace deal to continue Israel's conflict in Lebanon. The officials, speaking anonymously, said Netanyahu’s political survival is linked to showing his domestic audience that he will not withdraw troops from Lebanon. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, accused the US of responsibility for any breach of the commitments set out in the memorandum, insisting they “will be attributed to the US”. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned of a “decisive response … to the enemy” if the agreement was violated.
Hezbollah’s secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, declared: “The project to eliminate Hezbollah has failed, and the Israelis will withdraw from every last inch of our land.” The Israeli military confirmed a ceasefire was in effect but its spokesman, Effie Defrin, said forces would “continue to remove immediate threats, respond to Hezbollah’s violations, and do whatever is necessary to protect our civilians”.
Late on Friday, it appeared Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, already in Switzerland along with the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, might open the talks instead of Vance. Axios reported that Iran’s foreign minister was planning to travel to Switzerland on Saturday, but that was subject to change. The deadly violence and diplomatic back-and-forth added to uncertainty over whether a definitive end could be found to a regional war that has killed at least 7,000 people, sent energy prices soaring and threatened global economic chaos.