Israeli troops have killed two people and wounded two others in southern Lebanon, following two days of relative calm in the country amid a fragile truce.

Two men were killed when Israeli soldiers “opened fire with their machine-guns in their direction while they were standing near an excavator that was unblocking a road” in a town near the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday.

They are the first reported ‌deaths from Israeli fire in Lebanon in three days, threatening a United States-brokered ceasefire that has largely held since Sunday.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah denounced the “treacherous attack”, saying it was a “blatant” violation of the truce. It did not say whether it would respond.

The Israeli military said it “struck armed terrorists who posed an immediate threat” to soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area of the south, within an area of south Lebanon where Israeli forces have declared a “security zone”.

Earlier, Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council, warned that the Lebanese group will respond to any violation of the ceasefire by Israel, according to Iran’s Press TV.

Qamati said Hezbollah’s retaliation will come “in kind”, adding that there will not be a “return to the pre-war situation” when Israeli forces launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon even as the group’s fighters held their fire.

“Hezbollah remains fully alert with its finger on the trigger, ready to confront any violation by the Israeli regime,” he was quoted as saying.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 4,192 people since March 2. At least 1.2 million people have also been forced from their homes.

Israel’s death toll from its latest conflict with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians.

Israel defiant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir issued a joint statement on Tuesday saying the Israeli military will continue to “act with determination in order to neutralise threats against our soldiers and our citizens”.

The military would continue to demolish infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, and would also continue to “maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon”, it said.

The statement came after Netanyahu issued a video statement insisting that the Israeli military will “have full freedom of action” in Lebanon.

“My stance is firm on our remaining in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as is required,” he said.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has said the US is obligated to force Israel to halt its attacks on southern Lebanon.

“We have all witnessed the continued attacks by the Zionist entity on Lebanon,” Esmaeil Baghaei said.

“The obligation to put an end to the war in Lebanon is part and parcel of the previous and current arrangements. The US commitment is clear and there is no justification whatsoever for the Zionist entity to continue to assault Lebanon,” he added.

Baghaei said the Israel-Hezbollah war is a “very complicated issue”, but added “final arrangements” will be reached “over the coming days”.

Meanwhile, a new round of US-mediated negotiations between Israel and Lebanon has started at the State Department in Washington, DC, with talks expected to last until Thursday.

Negotiating and maintaining a ceasefire in Lebanon will be kept separate from any deal with Iran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after landing in Abu Dhabi.

“The future of Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese people through their sovereign, elected government. And that’s who we’re going to be working with,” Rubio said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X that “the developments of the past few days have proven the correctness of our choice to go to negotiation, for it is the only path relied upon at the level of the entire world to achieve national goals and restore all rights.”

Aoun expressed hope that the latest round of negotiations would be “decisive” in achieving Lebanon’s objectives.

“Today we say that we will accept nothing less than the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon and the collapse of foreign mandates together,” he said.

Lebanon is represented by Ambassador Nada Moawad, while the Israeli delegation is headed by Ambassador Yechiel Leiter. US officials are also participating in the talks.

Lebanon is seeking Israel’s withdrawal from the south of the country, where the Israeli military has established a so-called “buffer zone” that encompasses about 6 percent of Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Tuesday ⁠that Israeli forces will not ⁠stay in Lebanon, adding that the group would respond ‌to any violation of the ceasefire.

Israel says it is seeking the “disarmament” of Hezbollah. Hezbollah says the talks should be limited to “mutual security” and that its weapons must be kept off the table.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said that this fifth round of US-brokered ceasefire talks regarding Lebanon is a “train wreck”, stating that “the only issue is Hezbollah.”

Reporting from Washington DC, Global News Insight’s Manuel Rapalo said that Israel-Lebanon talks are key to a US deal with Iran.

“Finding a peace deal with Iran absolutely hinges on results between Israel and Lebanon,” Rapalo said. “The biggest sticking point here is Hezbollah. We’ve known from the start, since the first round of talks, that without the participation and input of Hezbollah, there’s no way to guarantee any sort of enforcement of any potential framework from these negotiations.”