Israel kills 8 in southern Lebanon, a day after Trump said Israel and
Hezbollah to de-escalate
[June 02, 2026]
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday
killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter, a day
after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to
dial back fighting.
Israel threatened on Monday to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, causing
panic in the Lebanese capital as thousands fled to safer areas and
Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel. Israeli forces recently made
their deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years, but Beirut has been
mostly spared over the past six weeks, apart from two targeted attacks
on the city’s southern suburbs in May.
Trump later announced after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and communicating with the Lebanese militant group through
mediators that “there will be no Troops going to Beirut."
Lebanon's State-run National News Agency reported Tuesday that an
Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of
Marjayoun with the city of Nabatiyeh, killing James Karam, a dentist
from the nearby Christian town of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and
son. The Lebanese army said two soldiers were lightly wounded when a
separate drone targeted them on a road outside the city.
A drone strike on the village of Jibchit killed two Syrians who worked
at a plant nursery, the agency reported, while another on the nearby
village of Toul killed two people. A third strike hit a car near the
village of Harouf, killing one person.
NNA also reported that an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed six in the
southern village of Marwaniyeh.
Hezbollah said Tuesday its fighters fired anti-tank missiles on Israeli
troops who were pushing into the southern village of Hadatha, about 7
kilometers (4 miles) from the Israeli border. Sirens sounded in several
areas in northern Israel, the military said in a statement, adding that
“a suspicious aerial target" was identified in the area in which Israeli
soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon, and that no injuries were
reported.
Despite a Washington-brokered ceasefire reached in April, the two sides
have continued to exchange strikes after Israel targeted areas in
Lebanon, saying it was for self-defense.
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Rescuers work at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a
building and damaged a hospital in the southern port city of Tyre,
Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo)
The latest exchanges came as a second round of talks between Israel
and Lebanon is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington,
where Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that
will prevent future attacks. The Israel-Lebanon talks that began in
April in Washington were the first in more than three decades
between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.
The fighting presents a major obstacle to the emerging deal to
extend the ceasefire in the Iran war that erupted after the United
States and Israel struck the Islamic Kingdom on Feb.28. Tehran wants
any agreement to include a complete ceasefire in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed
3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.
According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a
defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two
civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Israel’s military said late Monday that a soldier was killed in
southern Lebanon. It added that seven more soldiers were wounded in
the incident, three of them severely.
Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly
for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.
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