Hezbollah fires rockets at north, Israel hits terror targets in Lebanon amid shaky truce

None hurt as terror group targets Israeli communities; military says it killed several gunmen who posed a threat to troops

A steady exchange of Hezbollah attacks and Israeli strikes persisted in northern Israel and southern Lebanon on Saturday, despite the extension of the tenuous ceasefire between the warring sides by several more weeks.

Two rockets and a drone were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel on Saturday afternoon, activating sirens in several towns. The Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted the drone and one of the rockets, while a second rocket struck an open area. No injuries were caused.

The military also said it intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” over an area of southern Lebanon where Israeli troops are deployed. It said the target was suspected to be a Hezbollah drone.

In another incident, Hezbollah launched several explosive-laden drones at Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon. The IDF said the drones exploded near the forces, but did not cause any injuries.

The terror group has made use of small first-person view (FPV) drones in its attacks on Israeli troops. Some of the drones are guided using a spool of fiber optic cable, which mitigates efforts to electronically jam their signal.

“The Hezbollah terror organization has again blatantly violated the ceasefire agreement,” the military said in a statement.

At the same time, the IDF said it struck and killed several Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon.

In one incident, the military said it struck and killed “three Hezbollah terrorists who were traveling in a pickup truck armed with weapons.” The strike took place in Yohmor, just north of the Israeli-held security zone.

In another case, in the security zone, the military said it struck and killed a “terrorist riding a motorcycle.” Two more Hezbollah armed operatives, who were identified by troops in the security zone, were killed in an airstrike, the military said.

The IDF said all the operatives “posed a threat to IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.”

Additionally, the IDF said it struck several buildings used by Hezbollah, including the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, in the southern Lebanon security zone. The buildings were used by Hezbollah for storing weapons and carrying out attacks, the IDF said.

“The buildings were struck to remove a threat to IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians,” the military said in a statement.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes in the south had killed four people.

The Israeli Air Force also struck Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon overnight, the military said. The launchers were struck in the towns of Deir ez-Zahrani, Kfar Reman, and Sammaaiyeh, all north of the IDF-held security zone. The military said the launchers “posed a real threat to IDF troops and Israeli civilians.”

The incidents came despite an ongoing ceasefire in Lebanon, which US President Donald Trump said Thursday night would be extended by three weeks, while noting that Israel could carry out strikes in Lebanon in self-defense.

The IDF has said that since the truce took effect on April 17, it has killed over 30 Hezbollah operatives who posed a threat to troops, and destroyed hundreds of the terror group’s sites. Hezbollah, meanwhile, has been carrying out multiple attacks per day on Israeli forces stationed in southern Lebanon amid the ceasefire, while claiming that it is responding to alleged Israeli violations of the truce.

Trump announced the ceasefire extension after hosting Israeli and Lebanese envoys for the second round of the two countries’ highest-level negotiations in decades. The sides in a joint statement agreed on the “urgent need” to revive a November 2024 ceasefire deal that required the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday accused Hezbollah of trying to sabotage the truce.

“We have begun a process to achieve a historic peace between Israel and Lebanon, and it is clear to us that Hezbollah is trying to sabotage this,” he said in a statement. “We are maintaining full freedom of action against any threat, including emerging threats. We struck yesterday, and we struck today. We are determined to restore security to the residents of the north.”

The negotiations are the first direct, sustained contact in decades between Israel and its northern neighbor, which have technically been at war since 1948, when Israel was established.

The first round of negotiations took place on April 14. Two days later, Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which is set to expire on Sunday. The ceasefire came as Iran warned that Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon could upend the ceasefire that Trump announced with the Islamic Republic on April 8.

Israel and Hezbollah have continued exchanging smaller-scale blows, accusing each other of violating the Lebanon ceasefire.

Israel has pushed troops deeper into Lebanon and carried out massive airstrikes there after Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israel on March 2 for the first time since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement. That agreement ended over a year of conflict initiated by Hezbollah, during which Metula was largely evacuated and heavily damaged by rocket fire.

The terror group has said it renewed its attacks in response to both Israel’s continued attacks and presence in Lebanon since that agreement, and the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28.