Israel strikes south Lebanon after stepping back from Beirut attack
By Maya Gebeily and Steven Scheer
Escalation and Ceasefire Efforts in the Lebanon-Israel Conflict
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, June 2 (Reuters) - Israel kept up strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, pressing its campaign against Hezbollah a day after U.S. President Donald Trump asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Beirut to avert further escalation in the three-month-old war.
Following Trump's intervention, Lebanon's government said Israel would refrain from carrying out threatened strikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, while the group would halt attacks against Israel.
But the announcement has failed to reassure many Lebanese or halt the broader war in south Lebanon, which Netanyahu has vowed would continue. The din of an Israeli drone over Beirut kept residents on edge on Tuesday.
Lebanon's government has said it would seek a full ceasefire in a new round of talks with Israeli officials in Washington that began Tuesday, the latest in a series of face-to-face meetings Beirut has attended despite Hezbollah objections.
Iran has demanded a Lebanon ceasefire as part of any wider deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran at the end of February.
Airstrikes and Clashes in Southern Lebanon
AIRSTRIKES, CLASHES IN SOUTH
Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire hit south Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people in two towns, Lebanese state media said. Israel's military ordered residents of the city of Nabatiyeh, a major Hezbollah stronghold, to leave ahead of strikes.
Israel said troops were establishing positions south of Nabatiyeh "to strengthen operational activity in southern Lebanon". Its forces have captured the historic Beaufort Castle, to Nabatiyeh's southeast.
Hezbollah said it fired artillery shells at Israeli troops near Beaufort and targeted Israeli military vehicles south of Nabatiyeh on Tuesday. It has not announced cross-border attacks since Monday.
Israel partially eased restrictions in some of its northern communities on Tuesday, allowing people to return to work and school as long as they were equipped with shelters, and fully lifted restrictions in others.
If Israel's northern communities are attacked, the Israeli military will strike Beirut's southern suburbs, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Tuesday.
Iran's Role and Regional Tensions
IRAN RAISES THE STAKES
Dozens of Lebanese fled Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday. Some said they would return now that tensions had eased, but others were less confident the situation would stay calm.
More than 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been uprooted by the war, which began when Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Tehran on March 2.
Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, early in the war but has carried out only two strikes there since Trump declared a Lebanon ceasefire in April.
Tensions spiked on Monday after Netanyahu said he ordered strikes on Dahiyeh. Iranian state media reported Tehran had stopped indirect talks with Washington due to Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Iran's military warned residents of northern Israel they should flee if Israel attacked Beirut.
In a post on X, Iran's top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said he told Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that if Israel continued strikes on Lebanon, "we won't just stop the negotiation track, but we will be in a direct confrontation with the enemy".
Diplomatic Maneuvers and U.S. Involvement
A flurry of calls appeared to defuse the escalation: Trump said he asked Netanyahu not to conduct a major raid on Beirut and that Hezbollah, through intermediaries, had pledged not to attack Israel.
No U.S. president has ever spoken with Hezbollah, with or without intermediaries. Washington has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday that Lebanese officials had passed on messages on behalf of Hezbollah that the group would halt firing on Israel if Beirut was spared.
Beirut's Push for a Reinforced Ceasefire
BEIRUT AIMS TO REINFORCE CEASEFIRE AT TALKS
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters the Washington talks would explore ways to reinforce the ceasefire, possibly through phased approaches.
The official said that could mean establishing "pilot zones" - specific geographic areas where hostilities would stop, Israeli troops would withdraw and Lebanese soldiers would deploy, gradually building up to a ceasefire across Lebanon.
Israel wants Hezbollah disarmed, an objective shared by the Lebanese government but rejected by Hezbollah.
Youssef al-Zein, the head of Hezbollah's press office, said the group would not take a public stance on a ceasefire without a formal declaration compelling Israel to fully halt hostilities across Lebanon.
"Hezbollah will monitor developments both on the battlefield and in diplomatic channels in the coming days," Zein said.
Human Cost and Ongoing Violence
More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since March 2. Israel says 26 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks since March.
Reporting Credits
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Emilie Madi and Raghed Waked in Beirut, Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Menna Alaa El Din in Cairo; Simon Lewis in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean, Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones)
