• Strikes on Harouf medical centre kill six, including paramedics; at least five villages targeted
• Evacuation warnings trigger another wave of displacement; civilians dismiss ceasefire as ‘meaningless’

BEIRUT: Israel launched a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, striking at least five villages and prompting a new exodus of residents, despite a 45-day extension of a fragile truce agreed to only a day earlier.

The ongoing Israeli bombardment and expanded evacuation warnings have fuelled deep scepticism about the ceasefire among the thousands of Lebanese already driven from their homes.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Saturday’s strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning that covered nine villages.

The attacks have expanded in scope in recent weeks, reaching areas north of the Litani River and farther from the border. Since the truce began, the Israeli military has repeatedly issued such warnings ahead of strikes, compounding the humanitarian crisis in the south.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on villages that included one more than 50 kilometres from the border.

The Israeli military also struck at least one town near the southern city of Nabatieh that was not included in its warning. At the same time, the NNA reported a new flight of residents heading north towards the coastal city of Sidon and the capital, Beirut.

The violence came just one day after the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, agreed to extend a ceasefire that began on April 17 but has been marred by numerous violations.

The latest extension was brokered during negotiations in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese envoys, which followed the first direct talks in decades between the two nations last month.

Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel continues to conduct strikes in Lebanon, and its forces are occupying territory near the border.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, regularly claims attacks on northern Israel and against the Israeli military inside southern Lebanon.

The resistance group, which opposes the negotiations, claimed an attack against Israeli troops in the Lebanese town of Khiam on Saturday, justifying the action by accusing Israel of ceasefire violations and “attacks that targeted villages in southern Lebanon.”

The human cost of the conflict continues to mount. Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, with more than 400 of those deaths occurring since the truce took effect, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel has reported the deaths of 19 soldiers in southern Lebanon since the fighting erupted.

On Friday, an Israeli strike hit the centre of the Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Harouf, authorities said. Six people were killed in that attack, including three paramedics, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

For displaced residents, the term “truce” rings hollow.

“This is not a truce as long as Israeli attacks continue against the south and its people, with deaths, injuries, and destruction,” said Ali Salameh, 60, speaking from a school in Beirut where he has been displaced since the war began on March 2.

Others voiced their support for Hezbollah to continue its fight.

“What kind of a truce is this when they have just threatened villages and people are being displaced? Where is the state? We stand only with the resistance,” said Nawal Mezhir, who is also displaced from the south.

In stark contrast, Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed the extension of the truce and the creation of a US-facilitated security track.

The delegation said the agreements “provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability”.

Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

On Friday, an Israeli strike also hit the southern city of Tyre. An AFP correspondent at the scene saw significant destruction at a targeted site near the coastal city’s ancient ruins.

“They destroyed the entire neighbourhood,” said Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who was wounded in the leg. “They are emptying the south of its population… it’s a real occupation. We want a solution.”

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026