BEIRUT: Israeli forces on Wednesday carried out airstrikes on several areas in south Lebanon, state media reported, despite a peace deal in the Middle East war that includes Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids targeting the Nabatieh al-Fa­wqa area and the eastern outskirts of neighbouring town Kfar Tebnit.

The Israelis also launched a drone strike on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area, NNA reported.

While violence has declined in Lebanon since a US-Iran agreement to end the Middle East war was announced on Monday, Israeli strikes on the south have still killed at least five people since the deal, according to NNA.

Displaced residents start return to their devastated villages and towns after Middle East peace deal

The reduction in violence has allowed some south Lebanon residents to return and inspect their towns and villages, but the Lebanese army has urged locals to delay their return, citing “the risk of Israeli violations and attacks”.

Lebanese state media reported fresh Israeli air strikes and artillery fire in several southern towns throughout Wednesday. Lebanese security sources said Hezbollah had also launched two drone attacks on Israeli forces in the south. The group did not publicly claim the attacks.

Inside the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, below a mediaeval castle seized by Israeli forces, buildings had been blasted to ruins resembling the Gaza Strip.

Khodr Kodeih, a member of the town council, said that some displaced residents had come back to check on their homes in recent days, but that the fresh strikes were again keeping them away.

“The city of Nabatieh emptied out again. We hope that a safe environment can be secured so people can return, because the basic necessities of life are still not available.”

Village mourns dead

Gravediggers in a southern Lebanon village prepare tombs for the dead in Israeli strikes during the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, near those killed in the previous conflicts between the foes.

In front of recent graves bearing three huge portraits in Deir Qanun al-Nahr, Shourouk Hariri, 32, wept for her twin brother and volunteer rescuer Ahmad, one of his collea­gues, and her uncle, a local civilian.

“We arrived in the village yesterday and went straight to the place where Ahmad was killed, before coming here to the cemetery,” said Hariri, dressed in black like her 10-year-old daughter by her side. “We came here to understand what happened... we still can’t believe he’s gone,” she said.

Displaced south Lebanon residents have started to return to their devastated villages and towns since an agreement announced between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war and which is supposed to include Lebanon.

Death has touched every family in the normally peaceful village, located in the hills not far from the coastal city of Tyre. Ahmad Hariri, also a photographer, left behind a wife and three-year-old daughter.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026