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. 



Israel Releases Detained Palestinian Woman Footballer

07 June 2026, Israel, Tzur Yitzhak: Israeli Security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack in the town of Tzur Yitzhak in central Israel near the occupied West Bank border. (dpa)
07 June 2026, Israel, Tzur Yitzhak: Israeli Security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack in the town of Tzur Yitzhak in central Israel near the occupied West Bank border. (dpa)
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Israel Releases Detained Palestinian Woman Footballer

07 June 2026, Israel, Tzur Yitzhak: Israeli Security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack in the town of Tzur Yitzhak in central Israel near the occupied West Bank border. (dpa)
07 June 2026, Israel, Tzur Yitzhak: Israeli Security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack in the town of Tzur Yitzhak in central Israel near the occupied West Bank border. (dpa)

Israeli authorities released a player on the Palestinian national women's football team after six days in detention in Jerusalem, her mother and police told AFP on Monday.

Wissam Halawani said Israeli police released her daughter Rand Halawani, 20, on Sunday evening, with an order to remain under house arrest for five days.

Halawani told AFP that she had "gone through very difficult times over the past few days" following her daughter's detention, and that she now felt "overwhelming joy" after her return home.

An Israeli police spokesperson told AFP that "the court has ordered that the suspect remain under house arrest," and stressed that "this ruling does not indicate or determine the outcome of any future legal proceedings."

Police had said last week that Halawani was arrested along with an 18-year-old man in relation to an incident in Jerusalem in which objects were allegedly thrown from a balcony at demonstrators marching on a street below.

"The investigation remains ongoing, and evidentiary material continues to be collected and assessed," police told AFP.

The Palestinian Football Association celebrated Halawani's release in a statement late Sunday.

"Rand Halawani breathes freedom," the association said in a social media post, accompanied by an image showing her wearing the Palestinian national team's red kit.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, the main rights group for Palestinian prisoners, said Monday that that the number of women in Israeli prisons and detention camps has risen to around 95.

The number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons stands at around 9,500, according to figures released by the organization last week.


Lebanon Reports Israeli Strikes as Hezbollah Claims Attacks Against Troops in South

Workers clean the debris following Israeli airstrikes that hit the previous day, near the archaeological site of the Roman hippodrome in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
Workers clean the debris following Israeli airstrikes that hit the previous day, near the archaeological site of the Roman hippodrome in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Reports Israeli Strikes as Hezbollah Claims Attacks Against Troops in South

Workers clean the debris following Israeli airstrikes that hit the previous day, near the archaeological site of the Roman hippodrome in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
Workers clean the debris following Israeli airstrikes that hit the previous day, near the archaeological site of the Roman hippodrome in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 8, 2026. (AFP)

An Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the city of Tyre, south Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, as Israel vowed to press attacks on Hezbollah despite Iranian warnings.

Hezbollah meanwhile said it targeted Israeli troops in Lebanon, but did not claim any attacks on Israeli territory.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that "an enemy airstrike targeted a car with a missile in the city of Tyre, near the Lebanese Red Cross building".

An AFP photographer in Tyre saw flames erupting from a car on a coastal road as residents gathered at the scene and an ambulance and paramedics headed towards it.

Reporting airstrikes from the early morning, the NNA said Israeli raids hit more than a dozen locations in the south, including Burj al-Shemali near Tyre.

A Lebanese culture ministry official said Israeli bombardment on the city a day earlier damaged a UNESCO World Heritage site there, and AFP correspondents saw dust and debris at the site.

The NNA said some of Monday's strikes caused casualties, though Lebanon's health ministry has not yet released any tolls.

Iran's military command on Monday afternoon said it was halting its operation against Israel after the two sides exchanged fire for the first time since a truce in the Middle East war took effect in April.

Iran had delivered a "painful response" to Israel and "accordingly, the cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced", the Khatam al-Anbiya central command said in a statement carried by state television.

"However, it is emphasized that should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow," it added.

But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later vowed that the military would "continue to operate in Lebanon against the terrorist organization Hezbollah".

He added that Israel would strike Beirut's southern suburbs in retaliation for every attack on northern Israel.

"We categorically reject Iran's threats. Any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force, as happened yesterday," Katz said.

Iran insists a halt to the broader Middle East conflict must include a ceasefire in Lebanon, and on Sunday fired missiles at Israel in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs earlier in the day.

On Monday, Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded south Lebanon.

Israel's military intercepted three projectiles fired from Lebanon, an AFP correspondent near the border reported, as Israel's military said the munitions had targeted its forces operating in Lebanon's south.

Lebanon says Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,600 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader.

After an April 17 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah began, Israel announced a so-called Yellow Line inside Lebanese territory about a dozen kilometers from its northern border where its ground troops are operating.


Iraq Reopens Airspace after Iran Ends Operation against Israel

A picture shows Iraq Airlines planes parked at the Baghdad International Airport on April 24, 2024 - AFP
A picture shows Iraq Airlines planes parked at the Baghdad International Airport on April 24, 2024 - AFP
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Iraq Reopens Airspace after Iran Ends Operation against Israel

A picture shows Iraq Airlines planes parked at the Baghdad International Airport on April 24, 2024 - AFP
A picture shows Iraq Airlines planes parked at the Baghdad International Airport on April 24, 2024 - AFP

Iraq reopened its airspace on Monday, the country's civil aviation body said, following Iran's announcement that it was halting its military operation against Israel, AFP reported.

The Civil Aviation Authority was reopening "Iraqi airspace to flights to and from all airports" and will continue to "monitor and assess the regional situation", it said in a statement.

It had announced a 72-hour closure of its airspace on Sunday evening after Iranian missile strikes on Israel, the first since a ceasefire in the Middle East war began on April 8.