Why has Israel escalated attacks in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire? 

Lebanese leaders have condemned the Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon that has killed at least 11 people in the worst attacks since the renewal of a ceasefire was brokered in June by the United States.

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to two truce agreements – June 4 and 27 – mediated by the Trump administration. June 4 ceasefire was contingent on a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of its fighters. The June 27 deal did not specifically call for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces and instead tied it to the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The agreements came after another truce announced in April had unravelled. Both the ceasefires, opposed by Hezbollah, have not stopped the Israeli military from expanding its control over Lebanese territory and carrying out deadly attacks.

An Israeli escalation came as the Lebanese government is planning to hold another round of talks with Israel next month.

So what is behind the latest Israeli escalation, and where do the talks stand?

Here’s what we know:

What happened?

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said at least 11 people, including several children, were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes in the southern district of Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that seven people were killed and three wounded when Israeli warplanes struck a house on the outskirts of Ansar village, destroying the building. Four other people were killed in a strike on the village of Deir al-Zahrani.

“This is an area seen by people as safe, but an air attack has now hit. There’s now this escalation, along with apparently more Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon. We are seeing many demolitions. They are erasing towns and villages in the south,” he said.

“There are villages, especially those on the border with Israel, that have been completely erased, including graveyards and historic monuments,” he added.

The Israeli army carried out an air strike on the Ali al-Taher ridge in the Nabatieh district near the UNESCO-listed Beaufort Castle.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed flames and smoke rising from the area between the Ali al-Taher hills and the Dabsha area amid the sound of explosions.

Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s TV channel, said the blasts were a result of Israeli air attacks in the area while the Nabatieh news channel reported that the raids took place near the town of Kfar Reman.

The area has seen increased Israeli army activity in recent days and weeks after a lull following the June truce. Israel said the area has strategic significance and it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

Explosions have also been reported in Lebanon’s southern towns of Bint Jbeil and Taybeh, according to the NNA.

Israeli drones also targeted the outskirts of the town of al-Mansouri. Artillery shelling was reported in the towns of Sarbin, Barashit, al-Mansouri and Wadi Zibqin.

What has Israel said?

The Israeli military claimed the attacks were carried out in response to what it described as an action by Hezbollah against Israeli soldiers at the Ali al-Taher Ridge.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on X that the Israeli military responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack”. It added that “only later” did the Israeli military “learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound”.

Israel has repeatedly targeted civilians in Lebanon and during its genocidal war in Gaza, but it often claims that armed groups operate from civilian areas. These claims have been proved to be wrong on most occasions.

The Israeli military also said it killed Abu Hassan Alaa, whom it described as a senior commander in Hezbollah’s “Badder Unit”, and Hezbollah commander Ali Samir al-Haj Hassan in its strikes in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the Israeli claims.

Ziad Abu Rish, an associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Bard College in the US state of New York, told Al Jazeera most observers believe Netanyahu wants to escalate strikes on Lebanon “to demonstrate an undeterred resolve” to occupy the country’s south and to “pummel” Hezbollah and Lebanese civilians.

He said Saturday’s attacks follow “a pattern that has been in place since the so-called ceasefire” in which Israel is “allowed by the US” to attack Hezbollah and civilians in Lebanon “without any consequences”.

He noted that Israeli forces have killed more than 4,300 people in Lebanon since March 2 and wounded more than 12,000. About 90,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed while roughly 600,000 people remain displaced.

March 2 was the day the latest Israeli escalation in its war on Lebanon began. It started after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for United States-Israeli air strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“People’s lives have been broken,” Abu Rish said. “And it is clear that the Israeli policy has been to collectively punish the Lebanese population and in particular Shia majority parts of Lebanon and south Lebanon as it wages a campaign not just against Hezbollah but against the Lebanese people.”

The professor added that Israel’s actions in Lebanon should also be put in the context of what is happening in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 1,200 people in Gaza since an October “ceasefire”.

“We saw that Israel was able to continue its genocide in Gaza with no consequences,” he said.

“So people should really not be surprised to see that it is really able to carry out a campaign of effectively depopulating and making south Lebanon uninhabitable, as has been documented by numerous journalists and human rights organisations.”

What has Lebanon said?

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has criticised Israel’s continuing attacks on southern Lebanon, particularly in Nabatieh and the surrounding areas, saying they repeatedly violate the ceasefire reached with the US and Israel.

Aoun said the attacks constituted “a clear message to the negotiation track” and to US efforts to implement the agreement, and he accused Israel of repeatedly violating international laws protecting civilians.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned continued Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and called them a matter of “utmost gravity”. Israel, he said, must “halt” its escalation in the area.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, meanwhile, called the Israeli attacks a “massacre” and said they represented the continuation of a “war aimed at extermination” in southern Lebanon.

A Hezbollah statement on Saturday alleged that the escalation reflected Netanyahu’s desire “to escalate the war in order to bolster his domestic political standing, serve his electoral goals and appease the far-right”. A general election in Israel is scheduled for October 27.

Hezbollah also criticised Lebanese authorities, calling on them to seek ways to halt Israeli attacks rather than pursuing direct negotiations.

Randa Slim, the Middle East Program Director at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that Lebanon has backed itself into a corner by agreeing to a badly negotiated deal with Israel.

“I don’t think they have much choice right now. They have locked themselves into these negotiations, and the cost of walking away from these negotiations is going to be much higher for the Lebanese than it is going to be for the Israelis, and that is exactly the position Israel wants them in,” Slim said.

She added that excluding Hezbollah from the ceasefire negotiations was also a mistake.

“Hezbollah was not consulted and neither was the speaker of parliament, who has lately been speaking on behalf of Hezbollah.”

Israel is “not going to withdraw and [is saying,] ‘I’m not going to cease fire until Hezbollah is disarmed.’ And Hezbollah is saying, ‘I’m not going to disarm until I can see withdrawal from the Israelis,’” Slim added.

Where do the talks between Lebanon and Israel stand?

Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since March 2. Before then, Hezbollah had stuck to the terms of a November 2024 ceasefire despite near-daily Israeli violations. The 2024 ceasefire had aimed to end a war that began in the wake of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which started in October 2023.

As part of a US-brokered June 26 framework deal, Israel agreed to withdraw from large swaths of southern Lebanon they are still occupying after the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and the Lebanese army moving in to provide security near Lebanon’s border with Israel. However, this has not happened yet, and the Lebanese and Israeli governments have since been holding negotiations. The seventh round of talks took place in early August.

Israel continues to occupy nearly one-fifth of Lebanon. The Israeli military has accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire.

Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Netanyahu told the AFP news agency that Israel’s attacks on Saturday should “jump-start” the talks, “not do the opposite”.

“We believe in the agreement. We very much hope that the Lebanese armed forces are going to be able to step into the foray, and together we’re going to remove Hezbollah from the picture,” he said.

Separately, a spokesperson for the US Department of State told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah bears responsibility for the Israeli presence on Lebanese territory.

The official described Hezbollah as the main obstacle to Lebanon’s economic recovery and said the “pilot zone” programme, under which Israeli forces withdraw from certain areas and Lebanese soldiers move in, remains the only viable path to peace.

Abu Rish said the ceasefire has been “in name only” and held only from June 19 to 23 when Iran pushed for an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon as part of its memorandum of understanding with the US.