Israel’s military clashed with the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group on Tuesday along a strategic river in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed farther north, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel will expand its operations in Lebanon.
The clashes come amid a US-brokered ceasefire that has been in place since mid-April and despite ongoing peace negotiations in Washington with the fourth round of direct talks schedule for next week, 2 and 3 June.
At least 31 people were killed in the latest attacks, including several children, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
Israel’s military said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah sites across the region and the eastern Bekaa Valley area overnight, adding that it targeted storage facilities, command centres and observation points used to attack Israeli troops and residents in northern Israel.
The escalation leaves the US-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict nominal by the day, complicating efforts at a broader peace in the Iran war, as Tehran wants an agreement to include an end to the fighting in Lebanon.
