Israeli troops entered a southern Lebanese village early on Friday, pushing deeper into the country as Lebanese and Israeli military officials held direct talks at the Pentagon over the deadly conflict.
The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the village of Ebba, state media reported.
In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation met Israeli military officials on Friday in the first direct military talks between the two countries in decades.
The Pentagon, in a statement released late on Friday, said the talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements. It said the talks “focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and the “tangible outcomes” from their discussions will directly inform the negotiations with political leaders being conducted by the State Department next week.
Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.
A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese military official said earlier on Friday that the Lebanese delegation, led by the army’s head of operations, Brigadier General George Rizkallah, would aim to make it comprehensive.
The official said the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.
Another Lebanese official, who was briefed throughout the day about the talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing hostilities. He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on matters, such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.
President Joseph Aoun’s office said he received a call on Friday from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun’s office said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on implementing the ceasefire as it is “the essential entry point for transitioning to any other issues”.
In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington in more than three decades. The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon on Friday, forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas further north.
Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani river, which the Israeli military has used as a de-facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.
Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli troops inside Yohmor. The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if Israeli troops are trying to capture the castle, which lies north of the Litani.
Also read: Israel strikes southern Lebanon, 14 killed
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