Iran War Live Updates: Israel Trades Strikes With Hezbollah After New Cease-Fire With Lebanon
Hezbollah’s leader said the Iran-backed group, which was not included in U.S.-brokered talks, had rejected the deal. Share full articleVideoIsrael and Lebanon Agree to Renew Cease-Fire1:04Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to renew a cease-fire after U.S.-mediated talks in Washington. The agreement depends on the cooperation of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia.CreditCredit...Oliver Contreras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Latest PinnedUpdated June 4, 2026, 9:18 a.m. ETLara JakesHwaida Saad and Dayana Iwaza Here’s the latest.Israel and Hezbollah fighters traded attacks on Thursday in southern Lebanon, hours after the Trump administration brokered a new cease-fire agreement between the two countries. Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said the Iranian-backed militant group rejected the new deal. That could further complicate negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which has demanded that Lebanon be included in any broader peace agreement. President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon told reporters that the agreement — announced by Israel, Lebanon and the United States in Washington on Wednesday — was the “final opportunity” to reach a comprehensive cease-fire and warned that “each party will bear responsibility” if it did not respond positively. The deal would return to an April cease-fire agreement that has been largely ignored, with each side continuing to strike at the other. It demands a unilateral cessation of attacks by Hezbollah but does not explicitly require immediate concessions from Israel, such as a withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. Israeli troops have occupied much of the region since invading during this latest conflict. Hezbollah does not answer to the Lebanese government and was not a party to either set of negotiations, raising questions about whether the deal could be enforced. Hezbollah officials said the group had fired two rocket salvos on Thursday at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon’s border region. The Israeli military issued a warning on social media to residents of southern Lebanon not to return to an area south of the Zahrani River, about 25 miles from the border with Israel. Under the cease-fire that took effect in April, Israel said it retained its right to act in self-defense but would not carry out “offensive operations” against Lebanese targets by land, air or sea. Israeli forces have pushed deeper into Lebanon, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ramped up his rhetoric against Hezbollah in recent weeks, even as truce talks have taken place. On Thursday morning, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said the agreement also “includes an unequivocal statement” to disarm Hezbollah across Lebanon and a condemnation of Iranian involvement in the region. Peacekeepers attacked: A U.N. peacekeeper from Serbia died and two other peacekeepers were wounded when mortar shells struck their base in southern Lebanon overnight, hours before the agreement was reached in Washington. It was not clear where the mortars were fired from, and the United Nations said it was investigating. U.S.-Iran negotiations: President Trump said on Wednesday that the war in Iran was “not a big thing” for the United States, claiming it was going better than he expected. The United States and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, more than three months ago. U.S.-Israel relations: Mr. Trump also said in an interview with The New York Post published Wednesday that he had used expletives in a recent phone conversation with Mr. Netanyahu but that they had a broadly positive relationship. Oil prices fell on Thursday, clinging to the announcement of a new cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, despite Hezbollah and Israel’s continued exchange of strikes. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell roughly 2.5 percent to around $95 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell over 3 percent to around $93 a barrel. Israeli airstrikes battered southern Lebanon on Thursday despite the announcement of a new cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon. Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported deaths and injuries in several strikes and described heavy bombardment across the country’s south. There was no immediate casualty toll from Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah said earlier on Thursday that it had fired rockets at Israeli targets in southern Lebanon. The leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, rejected the U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, saying it amounted to a demand that the Iranian-backed armed group surrender while Israel continued to launch military attacks. Qassem said that any cease-fire must be comprehensive and include an end to Israel’s offensive and its military to withdraw from Lebanon, where troops have pushed deep into the south of the country. “As long as the occupation continues, the resistance will continue,” he said, adding that Hezbollah had made no commitment to stop resisting or responding to Israeli attacks. The health authorities in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that Israeli military strikes had killed 11 people in the past 24 hours and wounded more than 30. A spokesman for the Israeli military said that it had carried out multiple strikes overnight targeting Hamas operatives, the Iran-backed armed group that controls a part of Gaza, without providing further details. Israeli strikes have killed more than 900 people in Gaza since a U.S.-brokered cease-fire took effect there in October, according to enclave’s health ministry. As Israel and Hezbollah continued to attack one another on Thursday, President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon signaled that the U.S.-brokered cease-fire had not yet taken effect and Beirut was waiting for a response from Hezbollah before informing Washington of his country’s position. A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Iranian-backed group rejected the U.S.-brokered deal, saying it did not meet the group’s conditions. Aoun told reporters on Thursday that the agreement represented the “final opportunity” to reach a comprehensive cease-fire and warned that “each party will bear responsibility” if they failed to respond positively. He added that the truce could begin within 24 hours of Washington being notified that all sides had agreed. Fighting across southern Lebanon has intensified this week, even after President Trump on Monday announced that Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group, had renewed their truce. Nearly all of the remaining residents in Nabatieh, a major city in southern Lebanon, fled in recent days after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city. On Thursday morning, Nabatieh was eerily quiet except for the buzz of Israeli drones overhead, the roar of warplanes and the thuds of artillery from Israeli positions just a few miles south. Hezbollah has not commented on the new cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, which is contingent on the Iran-backed group pulling back from southern Lebanon and a “complete cessation” of their attacks. But Hezbollah said on Thursday that it had fired two rocket salvos at Israeli troops in the border region, posing a test for the U.S.-brokered agreement just hours after it was announced. The attack, and the fact that Hezbollah was not involved in the U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, added to uncertainity over whether the group would accept a unilateral cessation of fighting while Israel continues to carry out strikes. A United Nations peacekeeper in Lebanon died after a mortar shell hit his position in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, said on Thursday. UNIFIL did not indicate whether Israel, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Iran-backed armed group, or other militant groups were behind the attack, and said that it had launched an investigation. More than 7,000 peacekeepers were stationed in southern Lebanon as of early May, and six have been killed this year, according to the U.N. UNIFIL has accused both Israel and Hezbollah of attacking its positions throughout the more than two years of fighting between the parties. The Israeli military told Lebanese civilians on Thursday not to return to the country’s south, saying it was continuing to target Hezbollah a day after Israel and Lebanon announced a conditional cease-fire. The warning underscored just how little has changed on the ground despite the talks and President Trump’s claim this week that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop fighting each other. The U.S.-brokered agreement is contingent on Hezbollah first halting its attacks and withdrawing from the border region, while Israel has signalled it will continue operations in southern Lebanon. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Thursday that the hundreds of thousands of people displaced from the south would not yet be allowed to return, and Israeli strikes continued in several towns and villages, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. Trump says the war in Iran is ‘not a big thing’ for the U.S.ImagePresident Trump at the Oval Office on Wednesday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesPresident Trump said on Wednesday that the war in Iran was “not a big thing” for the United States in his latest attempt to play down the effects of the war by pointing to the economy. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump asserted that the conflict, which has killed at least 13 U.S. service members and an estimated 1,700 Iranian civilians, drained military stockpiles, and inflicted financial pain on working-class Americans, was going better than expected. He maintained he was “very proud” of what he called a “detour” to Iran. “We have the highest stock market in history with a military conflict going on, or a war — some people call it war, some people call it a military — it’s not a big thing for us,” Mr. Trump said. “We have a great military. It’s not a big thing for us.” Mr. Trump went on to falsely claim that “costs were coming down” for consumers, and cited “great financial people” who he said had assured him that because 401(k)s were rising, “everybody’s making a lot of money.” It was the latest attempt by Mr. Trump to flip the narrative on a conflict that he said would lead to a quick and decisive victory after the U.S. joined a bombing campaign with Israel on Feb. 28.But the war has instead dragged on for more than three months, with no end in sight. As its goals have grown more elusive, Mr. Trump has become more dismissive of the conflict’s unpopularity, and the economic pains that it is causing Americans at gas pumps and grocery stores. Last month, Mr. Trump said he did not think about Americans’ financial situations when considering whether to end the conflict. Then this week, in a 1 a.m. social media post, Mr. Trump chastised politicians who were “chirping” about the war.
Original Source: NYTimes
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