Israeli airstrikes kill 5 in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah rockets hit open areas in Israel

Israeli airstrikes slammed southern Lebanon on Friday, killing five including a paramedic, hours after Hezbollah launched rockets that landed harmlessly in open areas of northern Israel. The exchange underscores a ceasefire announced on April 17 that exists more in name than in practice.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported four dead and eight wounded from a strike on the village of Toura near Tyre. A separate hit near Kfar Chouba killed a Lebanese Civil Defense paramedic, according to the state-run National News Agency. The Israeli military had warned residents of six villages in the Tyre province to evacuate before the attacks.

Despite the April 17 truce, extended by three weeks, violence has persisted. Israel conducted an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs as recently as Wednesday. On Thursday, the Israeli military announced it had killed Ahmed Balout, a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, along with two other militants. Israel claims more than 85 Hezbollah fighters eliminated and 180 sites struck in the past week alone, though it offered no evidence.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met a European Union delegation Friday and urged them to press Israel to honor the ceasefire and stop “detonating and bulldozing” homes in occupied villages. Aoun insisted Lebanon remains committed to the agreement so negotiations can begin. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib was blunt afterward: both sides are holding Lebanon “hostage.” She demanded Hezbollah halt attacks and disarm while Israel curb strikes on humanitarian centers.

The conflict ignited March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran. Israel responded with hundreds of airstrikes and a ground invasion that seized dozens of border towns. Direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, their first in over 30 years, are scheduled for Washington next week. The two nations have technically been at war since 1948.

Aoun later huddled with Simon Karam, head of Lebanon’s negotiating team, ahead of those talks. Yet with rockets still flying and strikes continuing, the truce appears less a foundation for peace than a temporary lid on a war neither side has abandoned.

Original reporting: Japan Today.