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Lebanon to Request One-month Truce Extension in Israel Meeting

Diggers remove the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes as they look for survivors buried underneath in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Diggers remove the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes as they look for survivors buried underneath in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Lebanon to Request One-month Truce Extension in Israel Meeting

Diggers remove the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes as they look for survivors buried underneath in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Diggers remove the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes as they look for survivors buried underneath in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Lebanon will request a one-month extension of the ceasefire during its meeting with Israel in Washington on Thursday, a Lebanese official told AFP.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the topic, said "Lebanon will request an extension of the truce for one month, an end of Israel's bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire".

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that "contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period", which began last week and is set to expire Sunday.

Israel to Lebanon: Cooperation Required on Your Side

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, speaking to diplomats during an event marking the 78th anniversary of Israel’s “independence” on Wednesday, called on Lebanon to cooperate and make joint efforts to confront Hezbollah.

Saar said: “Tomorrow, direct talks between Israel and Lebanon will resume in Washington. I call on the Lebanese government to cooperate with us against the state of terrorism that Hezbollah has built on your territory.”

He added: “This cooperation is required more from your side than from ours. It requires moral clarity and the courage to take risks. But there is no real alternative to ensuring a future of peace for you and for us.”

Lebanon and Israel have been formally at war since 1948. Israel took control of additional areas in southern Lebanon after the Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel in support of Tehran on March 2.

The war between Hezbollah and Israel has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,400 people and the displacement of around one million on the Lebanese side.

Despite a ceasefire being in effect, Israeli forces still occupy areas in southern Lebanon and continue to operate there.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that his country would use its “full force” in Lebanon if its soldiers were threatened.

Under the terms of the truce, Israel says it retains the right to act against “planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”

The Israeli army announced last week the establishment of a “yellow line” separating areas in southern Lebanon, similar to the line that separates its forces from areas controlled by Hamas in Gaza.

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Arab World

Israeli Strikes Wound Dozens in Lebanon as Talks in US Enter Second Day

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Wound Dozens in Lebanon as Talks in US Enter Second Day

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on May 15, 2026. (AFP)

Israel carried out new strikes in southern Lebanon that it said targeted the Hezbollah group on Friday, wounding 37 people as the two countries' envoys started a second day of peace talks in Washington. 

United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza condemned the "unacceptable" toll from continued attacks, saying that "diplomatic efforts now offer a critical opportunity to stop the violence". 

A truce in the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has been in place since April 17, but it has not stopped the fighting, with hundreds killed in strikes since then and both sides accusing the other of violations. 

"The army has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement. 

An AFP correspondent reported a series of strikes, two of them near Tyre city, while state media said another targeted a center run by a local NGO near a hospital. 

Lebanon's health ministry said the strikes on the Tyre district wounded at least 37 people, including six hospital personnel, nine women and four children. 

Hafez Ramadan, a resident near the building targeted by the airstrike, said the building housed displaced people who had fled their towns due to the war, and was adjacent to a hotel where the displaced were also staying. 

"There are only women, children and the elderly here. Because of this strike, people have been displaced again." 

The Israeli army had earlier issued evacuation warnings for five towns and villages in and around the southern city. 

It later issued a new evacuation warning for five other towns across the south. 

- 'Unacceptable' toll - 

In a separate statement, the military said an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah since early March to 19. A civilian contractor was also killed. 

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported other strikes on locations in the south not included in the Israeli evacuation warnings. 

Hezbollah meanwhile claimed several attacks on Israeli troops in at least six southern Lebanese towns. 

Riza said "the reality on the ground in Lebanon has been deeply alarming", adding that "airstrikes and demolitions continue daily, with an unacceptable toll on civilians and civilian infrastructure". 

But he expressed his hope that the Lebanon-Israel talks "will pave the way toward a political solution". 

Representatives from Lebanon and Israel, officially at war for decades, resumed talks at the State Department in Washington shortly after 9:00 am (1300 GMT), one diplomat said. 

The US described the first day of talks in Washington on Thursday as positive, but neither Lebanon or Israel have commented. 

Lebanon hopes that the round of negotiations in Washington on Friday will end with an extension of the ceasefire and an agreement from Israel to halt its attacks. 

The truce is set to expire on Sunday if an extension is not agreed. 

- 'Humiliating' talks - 

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. 

Israeli attacks since then have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including more than 400 since the truce took effect, according to Lebanese authorities. 

The negotiating teams in Washington are being led by Lebanon's Simon Karam and Israel's Yechiel Leiter, both political veterans with entrenched views. 

A former ambassador to Washington and independent politician, 76-year-old Karam is known for his defense of Lebanese unity in a country riven by sectarian divisions. 

Leiter is Israel's ambassador to the United States and a longtime ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and is well-versed in Israeli settler politics, conservative activism and hard-edged diplomacy. 

Lebanon is under heavy US and Israeli pressure to disarm Hezbollah. 

Israeli troops have invaded parts of southern Lebanon since the start of the war, carrying out widespread demolitions of villages over the past weeks. 

Hezbollah, meanwhile, rejects outright any direct engagement between the two countries. 

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati said Friday that Beirut "going to direct, humiliating negotiations with the Israeli enemy is not a separate issue from a comprehensive conspiracy against the nation, its sovereignty and its resistance" at a time when "the south is being destroyed and martyrs are being killed daily". 

Arab World

Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Sites in Tyre Area of South Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Sites in Tyre Area of South Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 15, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 15, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said Friday it was striking Hezbollah targets in the Tyre area of south Lebanon, as the two countries entered the second day of US-brokered talks in Washington.

"The military has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement, hours after issuing evacuation warnings for five towns and villages.

An AFP correspondent saw strikes in the area.

In a separate statement, the military said "a number of explosive drones" had fallen in several areas of northern Israel, with no injuries reported.

The exchanges of fire come despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt the fighting.

Arab World

Palestinian Authority Says Teen Killed by Israeli Forces in West Bank

Palestinian boys from a local soccer academy run after the ball during a training session at the municipal stadium of the West Bank City of Nablus, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinian boys from a local soccer academy run after the ball during a training session at the municipal stadium of the West Bank City of Nablus, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
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Palestinian Authority Says Teen Killed by Israeli Forces in West Bank

Palestinian boys from a local soccer academy run after the ball during a training session at the municipal stadium of the West Bank City of Nablus, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinian boys from a local soccer academy run after the ball during a training session at the municipal stadium of the West Bank City of Nablus, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The Palestinian Authority said Friday that a 15-year-old was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, while the Israeli army said he had been throwing stones at Israeli cars on a road.

The authority's health ministry said it had been informed of the killing of Fahd Zidan Oweis. He was "shot dead by the (Israeli) forces at dawn today in the town of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiyya in the Nablus governorate. His body has been withheld," it said.

The Israeli army told AFP it "eliminated a masked terrorist" who had "hurled rocks towards Israeli vehicles on a central road, endangering lives.”