Hezbollah says it has stopped attacking Israel, denies Israeli claims of freedom of action in Lebanon

A senior Hezbollah official told Reuters on Monday that the group has halted attacks against Israel since the announcement of the agreement between the United States and Iran. The official said, “We have not carried out any actions since the announcement of the agreement between Iran and the US,” and rejected Israel’s claim that it has “freedom of movement” in southern Lebanon.

Reuters, citing Lebanese and foreign security sources, reported that no Hezbollah attacks on Israeli targets have been recorded since the deal was announced, neither in southern Lebanon nor in northern Israel. The sources said the Israel Defense Forces have continued only very limited activity, including artillery fire at towns in southern Lebanon, but that the overall pace of fighting has fallen sharply compared with the period before the agreement.

At the same time, efforts continue in Lebanon to advance the ceasefire arrangement and restore normal life in the south of the country. Many residents returning to their areas are finding widespread destruction left by the fighting, after Hezbollah embedded terror infrastructure inside civilian areas over the years and turned entire villages into battle zones.

Local councils in southern Lebanon have warned residents not to rush back home. In one notice, they urged people to slow down before returning to towns in the south, warning that Israel is monitoring movement from the air and that people should be careful and identify themselves before entering villages. Returnees described the scale of the damage, and a resident of Nabatieh said it would take many years to rebuild both his home and the city. Others said they feared renewed fighting and were hesitant to go back.