Washington Extends Lebanon Ceasefire for 45 Days Amid Bloody Field Escalation

The US State Department announced on Friday evening that an agreement had been reached to extend the ceasefire between the Lebanese and Israeli sides for an additional 45 days. Washington clarified that this step aims to give the parties an opportunity to make tangible progress on outstanding issues, noting that a new round of political negotiations will begin on the second and third of next June.

Despite the diplomatic announcement, Lebanese fields witnessed a dangerous military escalation, as Israeli warplanes launched intense raids targeting the heart of southern towns. Field sources reported that the shelling hit an ambulance center belonging to the Islamic Health Authority in the town of Harouf, completely destroying the medical facility and injuring a number of paramedics with varying degrees of severity.

In the Bint Jbeil district, warplanes carried out an airstrike targeting the town of Beit Yahoun, coinciding with other strikes that hit the town of Arab al-Jal in the Zahrani region. These attacks come as part of a wide wave of raids that have not stopped despite talks of de-escalation, putting the announced agreements to a real test on the ground.

The city of Tyre witnessed a state of panic after the Israeli army issued urgent warnings to residents of two buildings in the city to evacuate immediately and move at least 300 meters away. These warnings were followed by widespread fears of imminent targeting of densely populated residential areas, amid the continued flight of drones over the region.

For its part, Hezbollah responded with a series of qualitative military operations targeting occupation army positions and gatherings along the border. In official statements, the party announced the execution of an aerial attack with a swarm of kamikaze drones targeting the 'Liman' barracks, confirming that the drones accurately hit their targets and caused direct casualties among the forces stationed there.

Hezbollah's operations also included targeting the headquarters of the Israeli 300th Brigade using drones, in addition to shelling an Israeli force that was present near Birkat al-Marj in the town of Houla. Military sources affiliated with the party confirmed that these operations come in response to the continuous aggressions targeting villages and civilians in southern Lebanon.

In the Bint Jbeil axis, field reports indicated the targeting of gatherings of occupation soldiers and their military vehicles with intensive rocket salvos and artillery shells. Hezbollah units also managed to destroy 'D9' military bulldozers that were carrying out construction work on the Bayada-Naqoura road and in the town of Rashaf, hindering the occupation's movements in those areas.

Medical sources in the Tyre district confirmed that the Israeli raids carried out today, Friday, resulted in at least 37 injured, including a large number of children and women. The sources indicated that hospitals in the south are suffering from severe pressure due to the increasing number of injuries resulting from indiscriminate shelling that targeted more than thirty residential points.

Media reports from Beirut stated that the pace of raids did not decrease at all despite the intensive diplomatic activity in Washington, but rather the strikes focused more violently on the Nabatieh and Tyre regions. The sources pointed out that the occupation deliberately targets ambulance and civil defense crews to hinder rescue operations for the injured and the extraction of victims from under the rubble.

According to the latest updates from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the total toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 2951 martyrs, while the number of injured has exceeded 8900. These shocking figures come amid the continuation of military operations and the expansion of the scope of aerial targeting carried out by Israeli fighters and drones on a daily basis.

Extending the ceasefire aims to achieve further political progress, with early June set as the date for resuming official negotiations.