Lebanese soldier said killed in Israeli strike, Hezbollah fires 2 rockets at north amid truce

Fire on Galilee is latest ceasefire violation by Iran-backed terror group; Lebanese media reports dozens of strikes, home demolitions across south Lebanon; security cabinet meets at Kirya

The Israel Defense Forces traded fire with Hezbollah on Wednesday as each side accused the other of violating a shaky ceasefire, which Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said his government was working hard to “consolidate.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces said a Lebanese soldier and his brother were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

It said the strike took place in the town of Khirbet Selm, outside of the Israeli-designated security zone — a ribbon of territory around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the length of the border in southern Lebanon, where Lebanese have been warned not to return.

The Lebanese army said the pair were on a motorcycle heading from the soldier’s post to his home in the adjacent village of Souaneh. The IDF did not immediately comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, two rockets were launched by the Iran-backed Hezbollah from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee on Wednesday afternoon, one of which was intercepted while the other struck an open area.

The missiles, the IDF said, constituted “another violation of the ceasefire understandings” by the terror group.

The incidents came a day after the Lebanese health ministry said three paramedics were killed and two soldiers were wounded in a strike on an army patrol accompanying Civil Defense medical teams and bulldozers during a rescue operation at the site of a previous Israeli strike.

On Wednesday afternoon, Israel’s limited security cabinet met at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to Hebrew media outlets, amid the fragile truces in Lebanon and Iran.

Along with the rocket fire on the Galilee, sirens were also activated in the two border communities of Metula and Avivim on Wednesday due to two separate drone launches.

In both instances, the drones were downed before they crossed the border into Israeli territory, the IDF said, after they were spotted over areas of southern Lebanon where Israeli troops are deployed.

Several other drones were targeted by interceptor missiles on Wednesday after they were spotted over southern Lebanon, but without setting off any sirens across the border in northern Israel.

Another siren that sounded in the northern border community of Misgav Am was a false alarm, the IDF said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency also reported Israeli airstrikes on around a dozen locations on Wednesday, and alleged that Israeli troops were also blowing up homes in at least two locations.

The IDF said later on Wednesday that it had struck and destroyed a Hezbollah rocket launcher embedded within a civilian building in southern Lebanon.

Troops of the Givati Brigade identified the launcher during operations in the Israeli-held security zone. The military says it was aimed at Israel and IDF troops stationed in southern Lebanon.

The IDF says it then struck the launcher “to remove the threat.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military published a video showing a Hezbollah operative being targeted in a first-person video (FPV) drone strike.

Reservists of the 226th Paratroopers Brigade identified a Hezbollah operative in their area of operations on Tuesday. While he tried to flee on a motorcycle, the troops targeted and killed him using an FPV drone, the IDF said.

Hezbollah has also repeatedly targeted Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon with FPV drones in recent weeks, killing a soldier and a civilian Defense Ministry contractor in southern Lebanon with them in the past week.

The military said it launched several more explosive-laden FPV drones at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, in two separate incidents.

It said the drones exploded near the forces, but did not cause any injuries.

Separately, the IDF said that overnight it struck some 20 Hezbollah command centers and other buildings used by the terror group to advance attacks, in several areas of southern Lebanon.

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

Amid the ceasefire, Israel and Lebanon have been holding direct talks brokered by the US, the first such sustained engagement in decades.

Aoun said on Wednesday that authorities were keeping up “contacts to consolidate the ceasefire” and stop the demolition of homes in occupied southern villages,” within the Israeli-designated security zone.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah vowed Wednesday that Israeli attempts to “establish a security belt on our land… will be brought down by the sacrifices of the resistance and the steadfastness of our people,” reiterating his party’s rejection of direct talks with Israel.

Despite Hezbollah’s repeated opposition, the Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is affiliated with the terror group, reported on Wednesday that there has been contact between Cairo and Beirut in recent days, during which the sides discussed the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, with Egyptian officials conveying advice and warnings regarding the next stage of talks.

Since Hezbollah began firing at Israel on March 2, breaking a ceasefire reached in November 2024, two Israeli civilians have been killed in the attacks and 16 IDF soldiers have been killed fighting in Lebanon, along with a Defense Ministry civilian contractor killed on Tuesday.

Lebanon’s health ministry says that more than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes during the same period, a figure that does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The IDF has said that it has killed over 1,900 Hezbollah operatives since hostilities resumed.

Of those killed in Lebanon, at least 53 were killed since the ceasefire began less than two weeks ago, according to an AFP tally of health ministry and army statements.