Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 12

A series of Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon killed at least 12 people, including senior Lebanese army officials, threatening to derail recent US-mediated ceasefire talks on Saturday.

According to the Lebanese military, an Israeli strike targeted a military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road, killing Brigadier General Wassam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury, and soldier Hussein Ghozal. While the Lebanese government and regional allies condemned the attack as a flagrant violation of sovereignty, the Israeli military stated the incident occurred in an "active combat zone" and remains under investigation, reports Al Jazeera.

The deadly escalations continued across the region, with an airstrike in the southern village of Saksakiyah killing six people, and separate drone strikes in the Nabatieh district claiming three more lives. In response, Israel issued fresh forced displacement orders for several southern villages, while reporting that its forces struck approximately 150 Hezbollah targets over the weekend. Concurrently, the Israeli military confirmed that two of its own soldiers were killed during operational activities in southern Lebanon.

The latest violence highlights the fragility of the April 17 truce, which both Israel and Hezbollah frequently accuse each other of violating. Despite new conditional ceasefire proposals discussed in Washington this week, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the terms due to the lack of an Israeli withdrawal plan, as the death toll in Lebanon climbs past 3,500 since conflict flared on March 2.