At least nine deaths were reported after Israeli attacks across Lebanon’s south as Israel and Lebanon announced a renewed ceasefire framework following a fourth round of talks mediated by the United States. Hezbollah also fired rockets toward northern Israel, illustrating the immediate difficulty of translating the agreement into a halt in violence.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an attack near al-Housh, south of Tyre, killed four Syrians and two Palestinians. In Chehour, an ambulance operated by the Risala Scouts Association was struck, killing two paramedics and seriously wounding another. The organisation is affiliated with Amal, a political movement allied with Hezbollah.
A Lebanese soldier was killed in a separate airstrike along a route linking Nabatieh with Kfar Tebnit, the army said. Two other soldiers were injured when another strike hit their vehicle between Deir Zahrani and Nabatieh. Lebanon’s military accused Israeli forces of repeatedly targeting its people and equipment. Israel did not immediately comment on those incidents.
The new framework required Hezbollah personnel to leave the zone from Israel’s frontier northward to the Litani, roughly 30 kilometres north. US officials said Lebanese armed forces would assume exclusive control in proposed pilot areas, excluding non-state groups. No maps or operating details were published.
Implementation was conditional on Hezbollah completely stopping attacks. The group said it would respond officially later, but one political council member had already rejected commitments made through Lebanese-Israeli negotiations. Hezbollah launched rockets after saying Israel had violated the partial truce; Israel reported intercepting an aircraft and two projectiles near northern communities.
The arrangement followed a narrower understanding under which Lebanon said Israel would avoid a broad attack on Beirut while Hezbollah refrained from attacking Israel. That partial measure had not prevented strikes elsewhere. Lebanese media reported further southern attacks on June 4, including one that caused casualties.
The broader war began affecting Lebanon directly in March after Hezbollah fired on Israel following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Israel answered with extensive airstrikes and a ground incursion. Lebanon’s ministry reported 3,516 deaths since that escalation, without separating civilians and combatants, while more than one million people registered as displaced with the United Nations.
Negotiators scheduled another meeting for June 22 aimed at a more comprehensive settlement. The June 3 casualties showed why the framework remained fragile: armed exchanges continued, Hezbollah disputed the talks’ authority, and core questions about withdrawal, enforcement and control of southern territory were still unresolved.
Medical personnel receive special protection under humanitarian law, making the ambulance strike a separate concern from battlefield exchanges. Lebanon’s ministry said 128 health and rescue workers had died in attacks during the preceding three months, a cumulative figure Israel had not immediately addressed.
