BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, June 19 — Fighting escalated sharply between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon overnight, with four Israeli soldiers killed in one of the deadliest attacks by the Iran-backed group during this war, and at least 18 people reported killed in Israeli strikes.
Paris urged Washington to put pressure on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon, where the intensifying violence strained an interim deal between the United States (US) and Iran, halting the broader Middle East war.
The deal requires the US, Iran, and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Violence abated significantly earlier this week, but has since picked up.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said 18 people had been killed and 33 wounded in heavy airstrikes in 11 towns since midnight, and that bombardment was preventing rescue and evacuation efforts. It added that the toll is expected to rise.
Its sources told Reuters that in one of the targeted locations — the village of Harouf, northeast of the city of Tyre — seven people were killed, and many more were believed to be under rubble.
Israel cites ceasefire violations
Tel Aviv said it carried out strikes targeting what it described as Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure across several areas of the south, saying these were in response to repeated ceasefire violations by the Iran-backed group.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported heavy displacement from the southern districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, with residents fleeing north amid escalating Israeli strikes.
A senior Lebanese security source said that heavy fighting overnight was concentrated in an area north of the Litani River known as Ali al-Taher hill, high ground strategically important to Hezbollah, where Israeli forces had sought to advance.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced that its fighters ambushed an Israeli force advancing near the hill, destroying three Merkava tanks with guided missiles and targeting troops with rocket and artillery fire.
The group later attacked Israeli forces that had sought to enter the area to retrieve casualties.
The Israeli military said four soldiers had been killed in an incident in Lebanon, without giving further details.
Hezbollah attacks with explosive drones
Lebanon was sucked into the regional war when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel on March 2, prompting Israel to launch a major offensive against the group and invade the south.
Israel has rejected calls to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon, where its forces are occupying a self-declared security zone. Tel Aviv says this aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attack.
Its forces have been razing villages in the south where they say Hezbollah has embedded itself.
On Wednesday, Israel published a map showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it.
Hezbollah has continued to launch attacks on Israeli positions in the south this week, including with explosive drones that have killed and injured troops.
Lebanon's Health Ministry has recorded 3,912 people killed in Lebanon as a result of Israeli attacks since March 2, including 746 medics, women and children.
Israel's death toll from this round of hostilities with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians.
Smotrich urges Israel to open 'gates of hell'
Israeli officials have voiced anger with the US-Iran pact, which the two signed on Wednesday, saying it did not go far enough to address Israeli concerns over Iran's nuclear programme and would tie down their military operations in Lebanon.
Israel's far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both lynchpins in Israel's coalition government, issued blistering calls for revenge after the Israeli military announced the death of the four soldiers.
"For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn," wrote Ben-Gvir in a post on X (formerly Twitter). His ally Smotrich wrote that it was time to "open the gates of hell".
A senior Israeli official said Israel was engaged in "stubborn negotiations" with US President Donald Trump's administration over maintaining troops up to 10km inside southern Lebanon as it pursues Hezbollah.
