• Tel Aviv seeking to take control of strategic border town of Bint Jbeil
• Families in Tyre collect bodies from under the rubble
• Little hope for concrete outcome of talks between Lebanese and Israeli sides in Washington

TYRE: Israeli air strikes struck several locations in southern Lebanon on Sunday, targeting areas near Deir Qanun al-Nahr, as well as the towns of Shakra and al-Bazouriya, according to Al Jazeera.

There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.

Israeli forces also carried out air strikes in Khiam and Nabatieh, as well as around Tyre and Qana.

According to Al Jazeera, Israel is seeking to take control of Bint Jbeil, a border town in southern Lebanon with both strategic and symbolic significance for both sides.

The former leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a victory speech in 2000 at a stadium in Bint Jbeil.

In 2006, Israeli troops were ambushed by Hezbollah using tunnels in Bint Jbeil, delivering heavy blows to Israeli forces.

According to Lebanese security sources, all entrances to the town have been taken by Israeli troops, Al Jazeera reported.

The town is located on a high plateau, which gives Israel a tactical advantage. It is also a logistics hub for Hezbollah.

Iran wants a ceasefire for Lebanon as part of talks with the United States, which concluded on Sunday without a breakthrough. However, Israel seeks to pursue talks with Lebanese officials through a separate track, Reuters reported.

Heavy bombardment in Lebanon has continued, with nearly 100 people killed on Saturday.

Dr Abbas Attiyeh, head of emergency operations at Tyre’s Jabal Amel Hospital, said last week’s bombardment was among the heaviest in recent years, and many of the patients arriving at his hospital were children.

Tragedy on the ground

Wrapped in bloodied bandages, Aline Saeed, seven, barely survived the Israeli strike on her home in southern Lebanon last week. She had returned to bury her father as hopes of a truce spread across the region, but a new strike killed her infant sister and other relatives.

The strike on the Saeed family home in the village of Srifa took place on Wednesday, the first day of a US-Iran ceasefire that many in Lebanon hoped would apply to their country as well. Instead, Israeli strikes killed more than 350 people across Lebanon and left the Saeed family with four more relatives to bury, according to a Reuters report.

“They said it was a ceasefire. Like all these people, we went up to the village. We went to the casket to read the prayers and walk home… suddenly we felt like a storm was landing right on us,” said Nasser Saeed, Aline’s 64-year-old grandfather, who also survived.

On Sunday, he joined other relatives in the southern port city of Tyre to collect the bodies wrapped in green cloth. One of them, a fraction of the size of the others, contained his 18-month-old granddaughter, Taleen, Aline’s sister.

‘Low expectations’

According to an Al Jazeera analyst, the Israeli army is intensifying the ferocity of battles in southern Lebanon to gain as much territory as possible between now and Tuesday. “The objective is that, come Tuesday, when and if the Lebanese and Israeli sides meet in Washington, Israel will have the advantage, having illegally occupied Lebanese territory to barter in exchange for disarming Hezbollah,” the analyst wrote.

There are very low expectations for these talks, which is why the military campaign continues.

It also persists because 1.5 million Israelis continue to live as though the war has not ended, creating significant pressure on the government to find a resolution.

The Israeli government has boxed itself into a zero-sum scenario: either it invades, or the Lebanese government takes up arms against Hezbollah.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2026