An Israeli military source said last night that the IDF was ordered to hold fire in Lebanon, and may open fire only to remove an immediate threat. Troops remain in their positions for now. A diplomatic source told Channel 13 that the United States passed Israel a message not to escalate in Lebanon in order to keep the talks in Switzerland going, and that Israel may defend itself but should avoid strikes that could collapse the negotiations without first informing Washington.
The instruction followed Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, carried out after more than 50 rockets were fired overnight at Israeli forces. The army said the launches were a repeated violation of the ceasefire agreement by Hezbollah and warned, “We will not accept harm to Israeli civilians or our forces and will respond forcefully.” Hezbollah accused Israel of using false pretexts to justify breaching the ceasefire and said it would not allow Israel “freedom of action.” Lebanese media reported at least 16 people killed in the Israeli attacks, including a Lebanese army soldier.
A senior political source said the prime minister reiterated that Israel would remain in the security buffer zone for as long as needed to protect the northern border, ordered the IDF to respond strongly to any Hezbollah attack, and act against threats to Israeli forces. He said that over the past two days the IDF struck 300 terror targets and killed about 100 militants, adding, “If Hezbollah resumes attacking us, we will hit it again with force.”
Hours later, President Donald Trump said he would not allow tolls to be imposed on the Strait of Hormuz during the 60 days of negotiations with Iran, or afterward, saying that if fees are imposed, it would be by the United States and in its own interest. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then said the strait was closed to shipping because of Israeli and American violations in Lebanon and warned it was “only the first step.” Less than two days after a memorandum of understanding had taken effect and traffic in the strait had started returning to normal, an Iranian source told the Lebanese news agency “Younews” that Tehran could launch missiles at Israel if Israeli aggression in Lebanon continued. After the Iranian delegation departed for Switzerland, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the United States must meet its commitments and restrain Israel, or “there will be a problem.” The delegation is led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
