Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticised Iran for opposing a renewed ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, saying Tehran should not treat their country as leverage in its negotiations with Washington. Their statements came as Israeli attacks and new evacuation warnings affected several communities in southern Lebanon.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard had said there would be no regional calm unless Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon. Aoun rejected that intervention, telling CNN that Lebanese people were being killed and homes destroyed. Salam separately urged citizens to place Lebanon's interests first and said the country should not remain a battleground for others. Both leaders described Iran's approach as using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in discussions over ending the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The United States brokered the ceasefire agreement in Washington on Wednesday. It stated that arrangements to halt hostilities should be reached directly by Lebanon and Israel rather than through another negotiating channel. The parties aimed to continue talks later in June toward a wider peace settlement.
Hezbollah rejected the agreement and demanded that Israel leave Lebanon completely. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally mediating for the group, said any halt must cover land, sea and air without exceptions. Aoun argued that negotiation and diplomacy offered the only way to preserve what remained of Lebanon. His government had attempted to disarm Hezbollah before the latest fighting.
On Friday, Israeli forces struck multiple sites after warning residents in nine villages to leave. Lebanon's state news agency reported nine deaths in six southern locations. Anqoun, where about 2,500 displaced people were sheltering, was among the villages hit after a warning. Israel said the south remained a combat zone and advised residents not to return.
Elsewhere, people began inspecting damage after Israeli troops withdrew from Dibbine a day earlier, their first departure from a southern area during the Israel-Hezbollah war that started in early March. Lebanese soldiers and United Nations peacekeepers cleared rubble and opened roads, while barbed wire prevented some residents from entering. An Associated Press team saw ruined homes, missile fragments and largely emptied villages along the route.
Israeli troops had seized roughly one-fifth of Lebanon, advancing farther into the south than at any point since the 1982-2000 occupation ended. More than 3,500 people in Lebanon, 29 Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians had been killed since the war began. The renewed truce offered a diplomatic route forward, but continuing strikes, Hezbollah's refusal and Iran's position left its implementation uncertain. Further talks were intended later in June.
