Israel Military Says ‘Battle’ in Lebanon Continues, Ceasefire Does Not Apply

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Military Says ‘Battle’ in Lebanon Continues, Ceasefire Does Not Apply

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said Wednesday its forces would continue their campaign against Hezbollah fighters, claiming the ceasefire with Iran does not apply to Lebanon. 

"The battle in Lebanon continues, and the ceasefire does not include Lebanon," the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X, warning residents to evacuate areas south of the Zahrani River. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said the Iran war truce does not include Lebanon. 

The strikes came despite Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel on March 2, not claiming any operations since 1am (Tuesday 2200 GMT). 

Israel renewed an evacuation order for an area more than 40 kilometers inside Lebanon. It followed another warning to evacuate a building in the southern Tyre region, which Israel then struck, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. 

NNA reported several strikes across the south. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has acted as a mediator in the conflict, said the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States applied "everywhere including Lebanon", but Netanyahu later said the country was excluded. 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the ceasefire, saying he hoped his country would be included in the regional truce. 

Aoun said Beirut "continued efforts to ensure that the regional peace includes Lebanon in a stable and lasting manner", according to a statement from the presidency. 

A Lebanese official told AFP that authorities "have not been informed" of Lebanon being included. 

Hezbollah told people displaced by the war to refrain from returning to their homes before a ceasefire is announced in Lebanon, while claiming to be nearing a "historic victory". 

"Today, we stand on the threshold of a great and historic victory," the Iran-backed group said in a statement, calling on people to "not head to the targeted villages, towns, and areas in the south, the Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut before the official and final ceasefire declaration in Lebanon is issued". 

Hezbollah did not share an official stance on the truce. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, welcoming the ceasefire, said "our wish is to ensure that the ceasefire fully includes Lebanon". 

Spain's foreign minister said it was "unacceptable" that Israel continued its invasion of Lebanon after the ceasefire. 

"All fronts must cease, and all fronts also means Lebanon. It is unacceptable that Israel's war, Israel's invasion of a sovereign country like Lebanon... continues," Jose Manuel Albares told public radio RNE. 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire as "good news" on X but said Spain would not "applaud those who set fire to the world because they show up with a bucket". 

Israel's attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 1,500 people and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities, especially in the country's south, east and Beirut's southern suburbs, areas where Hezbollah holds sway. 

On Wednesday an AFP correspondent in southern Lebanon saw small numbers of people heading south, some in cars and others carrying their children on motorcycles. 

But Lebanon's military warned displaced people against returning south "since they may be exposing themselves to the ongoing Israeli attacks". 

Another correspondent in Beirut's southern suburbs, which have been heavily struck by Israel, said the area remained deserted. 

Shortly before the ceasefire announcement, an Israeli strike on the southern city of Sidon killed eight people. 



Lebanon PM Calls on Country's Friends to Help End Israeli Attacks

Smoke rises from the site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs on April 8, 2026. Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on April 8, hitting several parts of the capital as well as its southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs on April 8, 2026. Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on April 8, hitting several parts of the capital as well as its southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP)
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Lebanon PM Calls on Country's Friends to Help End Israeli Attacks

Smoke rises from the site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs on April 8, 2026. Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on April 8, hitting several parts of the capital as well as its southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs on April 8, 2026. Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on April 8, hitting several parts of the capital as well as its southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday called on his country's friends to help put an end to Israeli attacks following a series of deadly strikes across the country.

In a statement, Salam said that while Beirut "welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States and intensified our efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, Israel continues to escalate its attacks".

"All of Lebanon's friends are called upon to help us stop these attacks by all available means," he added, after Israeli strikes that Lebanon's health ministry said killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds more.


Spain Summons Israel Envoy after Spanish UN Soldier briefly Held in Lebanon

A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
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Spain Summons Israel Envoy after Spanish UN Soldier briefly Held in Lebanon

A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)

Spain summoned Israel's top representative to Madrid on Wednesday after the Israeli military briefly arrested a Spanish soldier from the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, foreign ministry sources said.

Israel's charge d'affaires was summoned "to protest the unjustifiable detention of a Spanish UNIFIL soldier by the Israeli army", the sources said, AFP reported.

UNIFIL on Tuesday said Israeli forces had held one of its peacekeepers "after blocking a logistics convoy", without revealing the nationality. The soldier "was released in less than an hour".


Multiple Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut Hours after US and Iran Announce Ceasefire

Smoke rises from an explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood following an Israeli strike, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Smoke rises from an explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood following an Israeli strike, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Multiple Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut Hours after US and Iran Announce Ceasefire

Smoke rises from an explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood following an Israeli strike, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Smoke rises from an explosion in the Abbasiyeh neighbourhood following an Israeli strike, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Multiple Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut hours after US and Iran announce ceasefire.

The Israeli military said it struck around 100 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon on Wednesday, describing the operation as the "largest coordinated strike" since the war with Iran began.

"The -army- completed the largest coordinated strike targeting approximately 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites" in Beirut, Bekaa, and southern Lebanon, the military said.

"This is the largest strike carried out against Hezbollah infrastructure since the start of Operation Roaring Lion," it said, referring to its military campaign against Iran, which began on February 28. Hezbollah, however, entered the conflict on March 2.