Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, killing more than 250 people on Wednesday, as the Iran-aligned group resumed rocket attacks on northern Israel after a brief pause under the two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
As reported, the latest Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed at least 254 people after Iran-US ceasefire
The strikes raised questions about regional truce efforts, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian saying a ceasefire in Lebanon was an essential condition of his country's agreement with the U.S.
On Wednesday afternoon, at least five consecutive strikes rocked the capital Beirut, sending columns of smoke into the sky as Israel's military said it had launched the largest coordinated strike of the war. More than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites were targeted in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon within ten minutes, it said.
Hezbollah said early on Thursday it fired rockets at the small kibbutz of Manara, citing what it described as Israel's ceasefire violations.
"This response will continue until the Israeli-American aggression against our country and our people ceases," the group said in a statement.
It was the deadliest day of the war that erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired into Israel in support of Tehran after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran two days earlier. Israel launched a fully fledged air and ground campaign in response.
"The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific," said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. "Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief."
Earlier, Iran demanded to include Lebanon in the two-week ceasefire plan after both countries agreed to peace talks and a margin of negotiations in US-Iran tensions.
Israel and US say 'Lebanon not included in Truce'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire with Iran and the Israeli military was continuing to strike Hezbollah with force.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance also said on Wednesday that Lebanon was not included in the truce.
"I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn't," Vance told reporters in Budapest.
Earlier, Pakistan, a key intermediary in the US-Iran ceasefire talks, had clearly stated the truce would include Lebanon.
Hezbollah had stopped attacking Israeli targets early on Wednesday.
Condemning Israel's "barbaric aggression" in a statement, Hezbollah said the attacks underscored its right to respond.
"Hezbollah was informed that it is part of the ceasefire, so we abided by it, but Israel, as usual, has violated it and committed massacres all across Lebanon," senior Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters.
"There would be repercussions for the entire agreement" if Israel's attacks continued.
A 'Living Nightmare'
Notably, more than 1,500 had already been killed in Israel's air and ground campaign across Lebanon, including more than 130 children before Wednesday's strikes.
The Israeli military said it attacked a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Additionally, Israel also struck the last remaining bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country—the bridge that runs over the Litani River, which runs about 30 kilometres north of the border with Israel.
