Hezbollah drones wound 4 troops; IDF urges civilians to leave south Lebanon town

Home Front Command tightens security guidelines in border communities amid continued attacks; Lebanese state media reports four, including a woman, killed in IDF strikes in south

The IDF on Friday issued an evacuation warning for the southern Lebanese town of Habboush, near Nabatieh, after four Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded by Hezbollah drones in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Meanwhile, Lebanese state media reported that at least four people were killed, including a woman, in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Friday afternoon. The IDF did not immediately comment.

Writing on X, IDF spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee called on Habboush residents to move at least a kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the town.

“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” Adraee said.

The warning came soon after two IDF reservists were wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack near the northern Israeli border community of Misgav Am.

The two were taken to a hospital, and their families were notified. The IDF said it was investigating the attack, which it called “a violation of the ceasefire understandings by the Hezbollah terror group.”

Two other soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon on Friday morning, the military said, adding that they were taken to a hospital and their families were notified.

In separate incidents on Friday, Hezbollah also fired a rocket and an explosive drone that struck near Israeli forces stationed in southern Lebanon, the military said. Another Hezbollah drone was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force over an area of southern Lebanon where troops were deployed, according to the IDF, which said no soldiers were wounded in any of the incidents.

Earlier Friday, the Israeli Air Force also intercepted at least four Hezbollah drones, one of which crossed the border into Israel and triggered sirens in the northern community of Rosh Hanikra.

Stricter guidelines in north

Amid the attacks, the IDF Home Front Command said it was further tightening safety guidelines in northern Israel.

In communities on the Lebanon border, as well as in Meron, Bar Yohai, Or HaGanuz and Safsufa in the Galilee, educational activities will only be permitted inside a building or in an area where an adequate bomb shelter can be reached in time.

Workplaces will also be able to operate under the same conditions.

Gatherings will be restricted to 200 people outdoors and 600 indoors. Previously, gatherings were restricted to 1,500 in those areas.

This means that the annual Lag B’Omer mass pilgrimage on Mount Meron next week will be restricted to just 200 people at any given gathering.

The guidelines will remain in effect until at least Monday night, though they are likely to be further extended due to Hezbollah’s persistent attacks.

Hezbollah and Israel have continued to attack each other since US President Donald Trump first announced a ceasefire on April 16, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce. The ceasefire has now largely unraveled, though fighting remains at a lower level than before.

The Iran-backed terror group has also slammed the Lebanese government for engaging in US-brokered talks with Israel amid the ceasefire.

On Thursday, the US embassy in Beirut urged Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, whose government seeks to disarm Hezbollah, to meet directly with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Aoun has so far avoided.

Following the US embassy statement, Aoun’s office said Friday that he had met with US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa in the Lebanese presidential palace near Beirut to discuss the ceasefire and potential peace talks with Israel. Talks in Washington, said the Lebanese readout, “would lead to achieving the accomplishment of peace and stability along the borders.”

Israel has carried out massive airstrikes and pushed troops farther into Lebanon after Hezbollah, on March 2, launched its rocket attacks on Israel in support of its sponsor, Iran.

The terror group has said its renewed attacks on Israel were in response both to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28, and to Israel’s continued attacks and presence in Lebanon since a 2024 ceasefire deal — which Israel said came in response to ongoing violations.

Over 2,500 people have been killed and about a million displaced in Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. The IDF says it has killed over 1,900 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.

On Friday, the military said it struck and destroyed over 40 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in the past day.

Those included command centers where members of the terror group were operating and advancing attacks against troops and Israel, according to the IDF.

The military also published footage showing a recent exchange of fire between Israeli paratroopers and a Hezbollah operative in the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil.

According to the IDF, in recent weeks, troops of the 98th Division killed some 200 Hezbollah operatives in Bint Jbeil and destroyed 900 “terror infrastructures,” including the town’s stadium, which the military says was booby-trapped by the terror group.

The IDF on Thursday announced a soldier was killed and 15 others wounded in Hezbollah drone strikes in south Lebanon. The 19-year-old Sgt. Liem Ben Hemo was laid to rest in his hometown of Herzliya on Friday.

Seventeen IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

Lazar Berman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.