• Raids on Harouf Medical Center lead to the death of six people, including paramedics. At least five villages were targeted
• Evacuation warnings lead to another wave of displacement. Civilians reject the ceasefire and consider it “meaningless”
Beirut: Israel launched a series of air strikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, hitting at least five villages and triggering a new mass exodus of residents, despite a 45-day extension of a fragile truce agreed to just a day earlier.
Continued Israeli bombing and extended evacuation warnings have raised deep doubts about the ceasefire among thousands of Lebanese who have already been expelled from their homes.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Saturday’s strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning that included nine villages.
The scope of the attacks has expanded in recent weeks, reaching areas north of the Litani River and far beyond the border. Since the start of the truce, the Israeli military has repeatedly issued such warnings before strikes, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the south.
Lebanon is state-run National News Agency (National Media Agency) of raids on villages, including one located more than 50 kilometers from the border.
The Israeli army also struck at least one town near the southern city of Nabatieh that was not included in its warning. At the same time, National Media Agency It reported a new escape of people, heading north towards the coastal city of Sidon and the capital, Beirut.
The violence came just one day after the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, agreed to extend the ceasefire that began on April 17 but was marred by numerous violations.
The latest extension was brokered during negotiations in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese envoys, which followed the first direct talks in decades between the two countries last month.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel continues to launch strikes in Lebanon, and its forces occupy lands near the border.
At the same time, Hezbollah regularly claims attacks on northern Israel and against the Israeli army inside southern Lebanon.
The anti-negotiation resistance movement claimed responsibility for an attack against Israeli forces in the Lebanese town of Khiam on Saturday, and justified the action by accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire and “attacks that targeted villages in southern Lebanon.”
The human cost of conflict continues to mount. Israeli attacks since the beginning of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, with more than 400 of them occurring since the truce came into force, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel announced the killing of 19 soldiers in southern Lebanon since the outbreak of fighting.
The authorities said that on Friday, an Israeli raid hit the center of the Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Harouf. Six people were killed in this attack, including three paramedics, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
For the displaced population, the term “truce” rings hollow.
Ali Salama (60 years old), speaking from a school in Beirut, where he has been displaced since the war began on March 2, said: “This is not a truce as long as the Israeli attacks against the south and its people continue, with deaths, injuries and destruction.”
Others expressed their support for Hezbollah to continue its fight.
Nawal Mezher, also displaced from the south, said: “What kind of truce is this when they just threatened villages and displaced people? Where is the state? We only stand with the resistance.”
In stark contrast, the Lebanese negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed the extension of the truce and the establishment of a security track facilitated by the United States.
The delegation said that the agreements “provide an important opportunity for our citizens to breathe, strengthen state institutions, and enhance the political path towards permanent stability.”
Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war on March 2 after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
On Friday, an Israeli raid also bombed the southern city of Tyre. that Agence France-Presse The site’s correspondent saw massive destruction in a targeted location near the ancient ruins of the coastal city.
“They destroyed the entire neighborhood,” said Ibrahim Qahwaji, a tailor who was injured in his leg. “They are emptying the south of its people… It is a real occupation. We want a solution.”
Published in Al-Fajr, May 17, 2026
