BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 24 — Lebanon's Hezbollah said a United States (US)-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.
US President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared "buffer zone".
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said "it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel's insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire" and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
"Every Israeli attack ... gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response," he added.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement and has strongly objected to Lebanon's face-to-face contacts with Israel.
Buffer zone
The April 16 agreement does not require Israeli troops to withdraw from the belt of southern Lebanon seized during the war. The zone extends five to 10 km into Lebanon.
Israel says the buffer zone aims to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
The Lebanese Health Ministry has reported that nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2.
Israeli military warns residents to leave town
It added that an Israeli airstrike killed two people in the southern village of Touline on Friday.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, the group and the Israeli military said. Hezbollah identified it as a Hermes 450 and said it had downed it with a surface-to-air missile.
Reuters reporters said that an Israeli drone was heard circling above Beirut throughout the day on Friday.
The Israeli military warned residents of the southern town of Deir Aames to leave their homes immediately, saying it planned to act against "Hezbollah activities" there.
Deir Aames is located north of the area occupied by Israeli forces, and it was the first time Israel had issued such a warning since the ceasefire came into force on April 16. Posted on social media, the Israeli warning gave no details of the activities it said Hezbollah was conducting in the town.
The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a drone prior to its crossing into Israeli territory, and that sirens were sounded in line with protocol.
War-weary residents seek end to fighting
The continued fighting has angered war-weary Lebanese, who say they want to see a genuine ceasefire put a full halt to violence.
"What is this? Is this called a ceasefire? Or is this mocking (people's) intelligence?" said Naem Saleh, a 73-year-old owner of a newsstand in Beirut.
Residents of northern Israel had mostly returned to daily life but expressed pessimism about the ceasefire with Lebanon's longevity.
“I believe that the ceasefire is so fragile, and unfortunately, it will not stand long, in my opinion,” said Eliad Eini, a resident of Nahariya, which lies just 10km from the border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the south, including a journalist.
In his opening remarks at Thursday's talks, Israel's Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said: "Lebanon should acknowledge the temporary presence of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and the right of Israel to defend itself from a hostile force that is firing on the population".
In a written statement sent to Reuters, Lebanon's Ambassador to the United States Nada Moawad called for the ceasefire to be fully respected and said it would allow the necessary conditions for meaningful negotiations.
Beirut has said it aims to secure the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory in broader talks with Israel at a later stage.
On Thursday, Trump said that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, and said there was "a great chance" the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year.
Israel has claimed that Hezbollah attacks killed two civilians in Israel after March 2, while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since then.
