Lebanon’s death toll tops 3,000 in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah

Figures don’t identify combatants, and list 292 women and 211 children among casualties; IDF kills senior Islamic Jihad commander; Lebanese president defends talks with Israel

The death toll in the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon has surpassed 3,000, Lebanon’s health ministry said Monday.

The ministry said the toll is now 3,020 in the fighting that was reduced — but not stopped — by a fragile, US-brokered ceasefire. Officials did not say how many of those killed were combatants, but noted that the toll includes 292 women and 211 children.

Many Hezbollah fighters who have been killed in the war are not included in the health ministry death toll, sources familiar with Hezbollah’s casualty numbers have said.

Reuters reported on May 4 that several thousand Hezbollah fighters were killed in the war, citing casualty estimates from within the group. The Hezbollah media office said at the time that the figure was false.

Twenty IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor were killed in southern Lebanon during the fighting, according to Israeli authorities. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed by Israeli artillery shelling in the north.

Fighting has continued despite the ceasefire, though at a lower intensity than before.

The IDF said Monday that a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley the night before.

Wael Mahmoud Abd al-Halim, who served as the commander of Islamic Jihad in the Beqaa region, was targeted on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek. Lebanese media reported that Halim’s 17-year-old daughter was killed alongside him.

The IDF said Halim led efforts to integrate Islamic Jihad operatives into “combat operations alongside Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon,” and advanced other attacks on troops in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for three villages in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah. Residents of Harouf, Burj al-Shamali, and Debaal were instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.

“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warned army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

Over the past day, the IDF said that it struck more than 30 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

The targets included weapon depots, surveillance posts, and buildings used by the terror group to advance attacks, according to the military.

The military said that it also struck and killed several Hezbollah operatives who were “advancing attacks against IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.”

In other such attacks, the IDF said it intercepted three apparent Hezbollah drones identified over an area of southern Lebanon where troops are deployed.

The “suspicious aerial targets” triggered sirens in several border communities.

Hezbollah also launched a barrage of rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, triggering sirens in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and nearby border communities.

According to the military, some of the rockets crossed the border into Israeli territory. They were intercepted or struck open areas, and no injuries were caused, it said.

In addition, an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah struck in Israeli territory, close to the Lebanon border, the military said.

As a result of the impact, the IDF said, “Fragments were identified in the community of Shomera.”

Four soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, by a roadside bomb in Lebanon overnight Saturday.

Lebanese president defends talks with Israel

Alongside the fighting, Jerusalem and Beirut have been holding their highest-level contacts in decades, with Lebanon demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from the country, and Israel demanding that Hezbollah be disarmed. The terror group itself rejects direct talks with Israel and says its arms are not up for discussion.

Speaking to local agricultural union leaders on Monday, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun defended continuing direct talks with Israel as part of his duty to find a way to end the IDF operations in the country.

“The framework that Lebanon has set for the negotiations consists of the Israeli withdrawal, the ceasefire, the deployment of the army along the borders, the return of the displaced, and economic or financial assistance to Lebanon,” he told the delegation, according to his office. “Anything else being discussed otherwise is incorrect.”

“It is my duty, and stemming from my position and responsibility, to do the impossible and whatever costs the least to stop the war against Lebanon and its people,” he said. “We have experienced wars and where they have led Lebanon, so is there anyone who can bear their cost afterward?”

Last week, the US and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington wrapped up the third round of direct talks, after which the nominal ceasefire in Lebanon was extended for another 45 days.

US President Donald Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Aoun and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage — a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon, where talks with Israel were met with protests.

In support of its patron, Iran, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into war in early March by launching drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel. Israel has since invaded southern Lebanon and bombed thousands of sites around the country, saying it is targeting the terror group’s efforts to rearm.

More than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the fighting, with some sheltering in tents along roads and the sea in Beirut. Israel, meanwhile, has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks.

The US-led mediation has emerged in parallel to diplomacy ​aimed at ending the US-Iran conflict. Iran has ⁠said ending Israel’s war in Lebanon is one of its demands for a deal over the wider conflict.