Thursday, 28 May 2026
Thursday, 28 May 2026
The Israeli military early Thursday pounded Lebanon's fourth largest city, killing at least eight people in its ongoing military escalation against the Hezbollah group ahead of crucial talks in Washington.
Several others were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.
An Israeli soldier meanwhile in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack, the military said.
The intensification comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion in the Israeli military's attacks in Lebanon, apparently sparked by Hezbollah's use of fibre-optic exploding drones that have struck Israeli troops in Lebanon and reached some of Israel's northern border towns.
Israel's military on Wednesday declared a new swathe of southern Lebanon as a combat zone and said residents in the area should move north, warning it would act "with great force" against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the zone. The military's statement, posted on X, appeared to signal further escalation after more than 120 strikes on Tuesday hit Lebanon's south and east, despite a ceasefire announced on April 16.
Lebanese and Israeli military officials are set to hold their first security talks on Friday in the US capital. The talks have extended a nominal ceasefire that went into effect April 17, although the attacks have since intensified while sparing the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Hezbollah has dismissed the talks and instead endorsed its key ally Iran, which has made ending the war in Lebanon a condition for its own talks with Washington brokered by Pakistan.
Prior to the attacks on Thursday, Israeli military Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued warnings to eight buildings in the coastal city of Tyre along the Mediterranean and surrounding neighbourhoods. Many people have fled the area.
Further north in the city of Sidon, an Israeli drone struck an apartment building where some displaced families lived.
Mohammad Al-Gharbi, who lived across the street from the building in Sidon. woke to the sound of the explosion.
"I was in my room when part of the wall and shattered glass fell on me, and everything was thrown into chaos," he said. "This building that was hit had six apartments occupied by poor families who had fled from the south to escape the attacks there, only to be hit here."
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that people were fleeing north to the port city of Sidon, already hosting thousands of displaced from other parts of southern Lebanon. The new statement came as Muslims across Lebanon were celebrating Eid al-Adha.
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since March 2, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of its ally Iran.
Since then, Israeli strikes have pummeled Lebanon's south, east and its capital Beirut, killing more than 3,200 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
In the nearby coastal town of Adloun, an Israeli drone struck a car with a family that was fleeing, killing six people including children. Another drone strike that came without warning killed two people on a motorcycle near Tyre. The target of the attack was not immediately clear, NNA reported.
The Israeli military said Thursday that a soldier in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and two reservists were wounded.
Hezbollah has claimed dozens of drone and rocket attacks that it says targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
According to Netanyahu's office, at least 23 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, the vast majority by drones.
