Iran and Israel clash over ceasefire in Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire between Israel and Iran does not include Hezbollah.
While the United States and Iran continue talks over a recent cease-fire agreement, regional conflicts related to the Iran war appear to be escalating in Lebanon and Israel.
On April 8, hours after President Donald Trump announced a two-week cease-fire, Israel launched its deadliest attack on Lebanon since its operations against Hezbollah began in Lebanon more than a month earlier.
Following widespread outrage over the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on April 9 that he had directed his government to begin peace talks with Lebanon, including discussions on disarming Hezbollah. According to Reuters, there was no immediate reaction from the Lebanese government to Netanyahu’s remarks.
The Israeli military said more than 100 locations were targeted, including Hezbollah headquarters, military arrays and command and control centers in Beirut, Bekaa and southern Lebanon. According to a report by Reuters, Lebanon’s civil defense authorities announced that more than 250 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in a single day. Hundreds of people were injured, including more than a dozen doctors, Reuters reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an April 9 post on X that the Israeli barrage was “a clear violation of the original ceasefire” and vowed that Iran would support the Lebanese people.
After Beirut was bombed on April 8, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said in a statement: “The terms of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States are clear and unequivocal. The United States must choose between a ceasefire and a continuation of the war through Israel. It cannot choose both.”
Israel said the ceasefire agreement did not include military operations against Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Iranian-linked militant group and political party. Vice President J.D. Vance said in comments on April 8 that this was a “misunderstanding” on Iran’s part, and also said that Lebanon was not included in the peace deal.
More than 1 million people have been evacuated and more than 1,500 people have died in Lebanon over the last month, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Multiple airlines have canceled flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut in the past two days. In a statement issued during the Israeli airstrike operation on April 8, UN Secretary-General António Guterres “unequivocally condemns” Israel’s attack on Lebanon and said he was “deeply alarmed by the increasing number of civilian casualties.”
Why would Israel attack Lebanon?
Hezbollah attacked Israel after Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28. It is the first time Hezbollah has opened fire on Israel since a US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in November 2024 during the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Council on Foreign Relations Center for Preventive Action.
Iran is Hezbollah’s most important backer. Hezbollah often acts as an agent of Middle Eastern states. The group opposes Israel and often opposes Western countries operating in the Middle East, including the United States.
Israel then launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is believed to be the home of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite militia and political party that has been linked to suicide bombings. Israeli forces have announced that they will occupy large parts of southern Lebanon indefinitely and have begun destroying homes in villages near the Israeli border. Israel occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Since March 3, the Institute for the Study of War has recorded more than 800 attacks against Israel for which Hezbollah has claimed responsibility, although not all of them have been independently confirmed or verified. Israel launched hundreds of additional attacks on Lebanon during the same period. Since launching ground operations, the Israeli military has said it has killed several Hezbollah leaders, destroyed more than 300 Hezbollah strongholds, including weapons depots, and killed more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters.
Israel has been at odds with Hezbollah for decades. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iranian regime has funded and armed regional anti-Israel groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The group emerged in the early ’80s during Lebanon’s brutal 15-year civil war, which erupted in 1975 from tensions between Lebanon’s Christians and Muslims.
What is the death toll in Lebanon?
Before the April 8 attack, Lebanese authorities said 1,530 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes since March 2, including at least 129 children.
Lebanese authorities reported that more than 250 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the April 8 strike.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.
