Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire set to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.
“Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the U.S. and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire.”
Two Hezbollah sources confirmed with Reuters that the militant group had implemented the truce.
"As soon as we got word of the ceasefire, we applied it on our end," they said.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its forces would stay in the "buffer zone" as its citizens are under Hezbollah threat.
Fighting had earlier escalated sharply between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon overnight, with more than 18 people reported killed in Israeli strikes and four Israeli soldiers killed in one of the deadliest attacks by the Iran-backed group during this war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed to "extract a very heavy price" from Hezbollah for the killing of the four soldiers.
Israel's far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both lynchpins in Israel's coalition government, issued blistering calls for revenge after the Israeli military announced the death of the four soldiers.
"For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn," wrote Ben-Gvir in a post on X. His ally Smotrich wrote that it was time to "open the gates of hell".
Paris urged Washington to put pressure on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon, where the intensifying violence strained an interim deal between the United States and Iran halting the broader Middle East war.
The deal requires the United States, Iran, and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Violence abated significantly earlier this week, but has since picked up.
"PERMANENT WAR"
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel on Friday of wanting "permanent war" following Gvir's remarks.
"This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It's a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime. The genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all humans. Its only interest is permanent war," Araghchi said on X.
Iran also condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon and warned of their consequences for regional peace and security, saying the United States bore direct responsibility for the situation.
Referring to the US-Iran memorandum of understanding reached this week, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said a halt to the war in Lebanon was an integral part of the agreement to end hostilities on all fronts.
He added that Iran would take all necessary measures to protect its interests, security and allies.
KATZ SAYS ISRAELI FORCES WILL STAY IN SOUTHERN LEBANON
Israel's leadership has promised to continue the occupation of Lebanon in defiance of the US-Iran agreement, which calls for Lebanon's sovereignty to be respected.
In a statement on Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon "from the Mediterranean coast to the heights of Beaufort".
In an interview on Israeli television, Katz added that the most important military goal was to hold territory.
He said the Israeli military was destroying villages in the areas it occupied and would never allow people to return to their homes.
"The 200,000 residents who lived in the security zone are not returning. None of them are returning," said Katz.
Lebanon's health ministry said 18 people had been killed and 33 wounded in heavy airstrikes in 11 towns since midnight, and that bombardment was preventing rescue and evacuation efforts. It said the toll was expected to rise.
In one of the targeted locations - the village of Harouf, northeast of the city of Tyre - seven people were killed and many more were believed to be under rubble, health ministry sources told Reuters.
RESIDENTS TRY TO FLEE NORTH
Israel said it carried out strikes targeting what it described as Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure across several areas of the south, saying these were in response to repeated ceasefire violations by the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah denied it had violated the ceasefire, and accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire terms, including the US-Iran agreement.
The statement accused Israeli forces of carrying out attacks that killed civilians, destroying homes and infrastructure, and continuing its ground incursions into parts of southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported heavy displacement from the southern districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, with residents fleeing north amid escalating Israeli strikes.
Heavy fighting overnight was concentrated in an area north of the Litani River known as Ali al-Taher hill - high ground strategically important to Hezbollah where Israeli forces had sought to advance, a senior Lebanese security source said.
Hezbollah said its fighters ambushed an Israeli force advancing near the hill, destroying three Merkava tanks with guided missiles and targeting troops with rocket and artillery fire. Hezbollah said it later attacked Israeli forces that had sought to enter the area to retrieve casualties.
The Israeli military said four soldiers had been killed in an incident in Lebanon, but without giving further details.
HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS WITH EXPLOSIVE DRONES
Lebanon was sucked into the regional war when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel on Mar 2, prompting Israel to launch a major offensive against the group and invade the south.
Israel has rejected calls to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon, where its forces are occupying a self-declared security zone. Israel says this aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attack. Its forces have been razing villages in the south where they say Hezbollah has embedded itself.
On Wednesday, Israel published a map showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it.
Hezbollah has continued to launch attacks on Israeli positions in the south this week, including with explosive drones that have killed and injured troops.
Lebanon's health ministry has recorded 3,912 people killed in Lebanon as a result of Israeli attacks since Mar 2, including 746 medics, women and children.
Israel's death toll from this round of hostilities with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians.
--Agencies
