Lebanon reports Israeli strikes after truce announcement
· RTE.ieLebanese official media has reported Israeli airstrikes in the country's south, hours after an announcement that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a conditional ceasefire following talks in Washington.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported drone strikes along roads at several southern locations, saying at least one caused casualties.
Earlier this morning, the Israeli military said air raid sirens were sounded in northern Israel, with one incident involving a "suspicious aerial target" resolved, while another incident was found to be a false alarm.
In Washington yesterday, Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a "complete cessation" of fire by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after a fourth round of US-led talks.
The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create "pilot zones" in which the Lebanese armed forces "will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors".
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticised the deal, calling it a "serious mistake".
Early today before the announcement, Hezbollah said it had launched a "salvo of rockets" at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in south Lebanon's Qantara, and fired drones at troops near the strategic Beaufort castle.
A previous ceasefire to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on 17 April but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other's alleged violations.
Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on 2 March, firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.
The World Health Organization said last week that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the 17 April truce.
This week, senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told AFP the group would "not accept a partial ceasefire".
Conditional truce boost to hopes for broader deal
The Trump administration had said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, in a boost to hopes for a broader deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Tehran, which had conditioned any deal with the US in part on an end to fighting between Israel and Lebanon, earlier struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens while the US military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.
The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all its operatives from the South Litani Sector, a joint statement released by the US State Department said following negotiations in Washington.
The two sides had agreed last month to a ceasefire but hostilities had continued.
Israel invaded Lebanon in March in pursuit of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fired across the border in support of Tehran.
The attacks on Kuwait and in the Strait of Hormuz are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran, sending oil prices up nearly 2%, as the waterway remains largely closed more than three months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.
Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation authority said.
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire at Kuwait's airport and blamed the destruction on US interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.
The US military said that was not accurate and that Iranian drones targeted the airport deliberately.
Earlier, Iranian media reported the Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a US airbase, as well as a vessel identified as Panaya.
US Central Command denied its bases had been hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.
CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of "defensive strikes" in southern Iran, targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats seeking to lay mines and conducted strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks.
US House votes to curb Trump on Iran war
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives backed a resolution seeking to halt American military action in Iran - a symbolic move that will deal a political blow to President Trump as efforts to find a deal with Tehran stagnate.
In the wake of the flare-ups, four politicians from Trump's Republican party joined Democrats on yesterday to vote 215-208 in favour of the public rebuke.
The resolution was largely symbolic, as the US president can veto the measure if it gains Senate approval.
"This is a loud and unambiguous message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: it's time to end his deeply unpopular and illegal war of choice in Iran," Democrats posted on X.
Since the US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February, Tehran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region, home to US military bases.
Hostilities have periodically flared up in recent weeks despite a ceasefire agreed in early April, as the US has pushed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which handled roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.
Last week, Iran and the US signalled progress towards a tentative initial agreement to halt the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal, which would leave more complex negotiations for later.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen that talks had not been cut off but no progress had been made.
In addition to Tehran conditioning a deal on an end to fighting in Lebanon, it also wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, a lifting of a US blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to bringdown fuel prices, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran says its atomic programme is for peaceful purposes.
In a podcast interview released yesterday, Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khameneiwas involved in negotiations.
President Trump also suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend.
"If it happens, it could happen over the weekend," Mr Trump told reporters in the White House's Oval Office, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that timeframe.
President Trump said that parties were working to separate the issue of reopening the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.
The war has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while causing global economic pain by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.
It also sparked the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon yesterday and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
Mr Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively if Israel attacks Beirut.
In his podcast comments, Mr Trump acknowledged having called Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "crazy" during a reportedly expletive-filled phone exchange over the fighting in Lebanon as he sought a deal over the wider war.
"At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it," Mr Trump said, referring to Mr Netanyahu by his nickname.
Mr Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview that he and Mr Trump sometimes had "tactical disagreements" but that they agreed on the main issues concerning Iran.