Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon have killed at least five people as air raids and artillery strikes continue despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire”.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that one person was killed in an air strike targeting the town of Maarakeh in Tyre district. Ali Badie, the mayor of Ar-Rihan municipality, was killed in an Israeli attack in the Jezzine district of southern Lebanon. Three people were killed in the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Kafr Reman in Nabatieh district.

Israeli attacks at dawn demolished homes and government buildings in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, according to NNA. Later Israeli attacks in Bint Jbeil hit the towns of Bir Ayshiyeh, Rmeish, Khirbet Selm and Burj Qalawiya.

Israeli air raids struck the villages of Qana, Bazouriyeh, Rashkananiyeh and Shahour in Tyre district, as well as the municipality of Kfar Tibnit in Nabatieh district, NNA said. Additional air raids were reported between Nabatieh and Kfar Reman, and in the towns of al-Riz and Zrarieh in Sidon district. Artillery shells hit Majdal Zoun municipality in Tyre district.

Also in Tyre, the Israeli military launched drone strikes on the towns of al-Majadel and Bayt al-Sayyad, as well as al-Kawthariyah al-Saida close to Sidon. Warplanes raided the town of Khirbet Selm in the Ain area.

An Israeli attack was also reported in the municipality of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in Nabatieh district. Additional Israeli strikes targeted Deir Qanun al-Nahr and as-Sawana in Marjayoun district. Also in Marjayoun, the Israeli military bombed the town of Blat late on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the Lebanese army said that one of its soldiers was severely injured after being targeted by the Israeli military twice as he was travelling on the Kfar Reman–Nabatieh road.

Israel and Hezbollah attacks

The Israeli military threatened residents of 24 Lebanese towns and villages to leave their homes immediately and move “north of the Zahrani River”.

Saturday’s forced displacement orders applied to Deir al-Zahrani, al-Namirieh, al-Sharquieh, al-Dewayr, Harouf, Habboush, Kfarjoz, Zibdine (Nabatieh), Nabatieh al-Tahta, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Kfar Rouman, Al-Mahmoudieh, Sajed (Jezzine), Reihan, Aaramta, Kfarchouba, Mlki, Al-Lawiza (Jezzine), Jarjouh, Arab Salim, Ghassaniyeh, az-Zrariyah, Mazraat Kaoutariyet er-Rizz and Sir el-Gharbiyeh.

In Israel, the military said an air raid alert was activated in the northern town of Metula due to the “infiltration of a hostile aircraft” from Lebanon, but did not name the armed group Hezbollah.

In a post on social media, the Israeli military said it has killed seven Hezbollah fighters over the past week.

In a separate post, it said it destroyed rocket launchers and hit more than 70 of the group’s sites in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours.

Hezbollah said it carried out a series of attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, one of which involved firing an air-to-air missile to intercept an Israeli Hermes 450 drone over the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.

The group also said it fired missiles at several Israeli military vehicles in Jdeidet Mays al-Jabal and targeted an Israeli command centre near Yahmor al-Shaqif, with what it described as a “diving drone”.

Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli armoured vehicle near Hamams Hill, south of Khiam, as well as Israeli troops positioned in a building in Khiam, with Ababil drones. It also said it launched a drone at a newly established Israeli artillery position in al-Adaisseh.

In another statement, the group claimed it lured an Israeli infantry force into an ambush near Kfar Tebnit, adding that it detonated explosive devices and directed artilley fire at the area, forcing Israeli troops to withdraw.

US-Iran deal should include Lebanon

The ongoing attacks come as United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday that an initial agreement to end the US-Israeli war with Iran is “scheduled to get signed tomorrow”. That followed Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, saying an agreement would likely be finalised within the next 24 hours.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the memorandum of understanding would not be signed on Sunday, but it could be within the “coming days”, according to state media.

Iranian media reported the initial agreement would declare an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon”.

That has led to fears that Israel’s actions in Lebanon could scupper a deal, since Israel is not a party to the negotiations between the US and Iran, and its leaders have said they do not plan to withdraw from Lebanon.

Global News Insight’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said there had not been any cessation in military activity in Lebanon, despite Iran saying that Lebanon would be included in a deal with the US.

“Instead, what we have seen over the course of Saturday morning so far is wide-ranging, forced displacement orders … There have been multiple air strikes across the south over the course of the morning as well. This once again represents an expansion, rather than a cessation of Israeli military activity,” she said.

“This isn’t necessarily a moment of peace here – in fact, it is a moment of danger, just like it was on April 8, when there were discussions on whether or not Lebanon was going to be included in the deal. The Israeli prime minister and his military made it clear that it would not be, and later that afternoon it turned into the deadliest day of the war as more than 350 people were killed.”

The attacks came amid a supposed ceasefire, agreed between Israeli and Lebanese officials earlier this month, that would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, yet the fighting continues.

The next round of talks between the two countries is expected on June 22, with a view towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, at least 3,756 people have been killed and 11,632 injured in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that the country is at a “fateful juncture”, with a choice to become “a sovereign state that monopolises arms and upholds the rule of law”, or to remain “hostage to the logic of militias and the culture of exclusion”.

Speaking on the anniversary of the assassination of former minister Tony Suleiman Frangieh in 1978 by armed factions, Aoun said national unity was an “existential necessity”.

“We are at a moment that tolerates neither sectarian luxury nor regional tug-of-war,” he said.