Israel and Hezbollah trade fire as US-led talks enter fourth round, leaving Lebanese civilians caught between diplomacy and escalation

Diplomacy in Washington

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors were received at the State Department on Tuesday for a fourth round of direct talks, a two-day session that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as the path to a peace deal. Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Israel and Lebanon could conclude an agreement "tomorrow" if not for the obstacle of Hezbollah. "Israel has no territorial claims in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the impediment," he said.

Israel and Lebanon can do a peace deal tomorrow. Israel has no territorial claims in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the impediment.

The talks are mediated by the United States and include Israeli representative Yechiel Leiter, Lebanese envoy Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and Daniel Holler, a senior adviser to Rubio, though Rubio himself is not participating in this session. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the negotiations "the least costly choice for Lebanon," a position strongly opposed by Hezbollah.

The fighting on the ground

Despite a ceasefire officially in place since 17 April, the battlefield has not quieted. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported Israeli strikes on around 30 locations across the south on Tuesday, some of them deadly. A drone strike hit a car on the road between Marjayoun and Nabatieh, killing dentist James Karam, his daughter, and his son, according to the state agency. An earlier airstrike on Monday killed six people in the village of Marwaniyeh, bringing the day's total to at least 13 dead, Lebanese sources said.

We hear talk of peace in Washington, but in southern Lebanon it is still war.

Hezbollah claimed two operations against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight Monday to Tuesday, including an anti-tank missile attack on an Israeli tank at Hadatha. The group said it was fighting "the advance of Israeli forces" but did not claim cross-border rocket attacks into Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles from Lebanon without reporting injuries.

A ceasefire that never took hold

The current war began on 2 March when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran, dragging Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict. A ceasefire was declared on 17 April and extended once after earlier rounds of talks, but neither side has respected it. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, citing what he called Hezbollah's "repeated violations." According to US site Axios, however, President Donald Trump pressured Netanyahu to back down.

Trump declared on his Truth Social platform Monday evening that Netanyahu had committed not to send troops into Beirut and that Hezbollah would "cease fire completely." Rubio later clarified that Hezbollah's commitment had been transmitted "through the Lebanese authorities." Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told AFP in a written statement that the group "will not accept a partial ceasefire."

We will not accept a partial ceasefire.

Civilians caught in the middle

In northern Israel, residents of Kiryat Shmona described a sense of abandonment after sirens shattered the night on Saturday. Shiran Ohayon, a leader of a local protest movement born from successive wars, said residents could no longer endure the cycle of violence. "Neither I, nor my husband, nor my children should be forced to live like this," she said.

Neither I, nor my husband, nor my children should be forced to live like this.

On Beirut's waterfront, displaced Lebanese in tents were joined on Monday night by people fleeing the southern suburbs, fearing a new escalation after Israel pledged to step up strikes. The buzz of an Israeli drone over the capital kept nerves frayed on Tuesday, and the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman called on residents of Nabatieh to evacuate ahead of planned attacks on Hezbollah.

The Iran dimension

Rubio repeated that "without Iran, there would be no Hezbollah" and insisted the US wanted the Israeli-Lebanese talks to remain separate from negotiations with Iran to end the wider Middle East war launched by the US and Israel against Iran on 28 February. Iran has repeatedly linked the two conflicts and warned that Israel's expanding campaign in Lebanon risked ending the US-Iran ceasefire in place since 8 April.

Recent days have seen Israeli troops stage their deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades, while Hezbollah signalled it would extend the range of its attacks on Israeli border communities in proportion to the scope of Israeli operations on Lebanese territory.