Israel’s prime minister says he will “respond with force” after Hezbollah fired towards an Israeli military post in disputed territory in Lebanon.
Two projectiles fell in open areas and no injuries were reported.
Israel said they had been launched toward Mount Dov, a disputed Israeli-held territory known as Shebaa Farms in Lebanon, where the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet.
Hezbollah said it fired projectiles as a “defensive and warning response” after what it called “repeated violations” of the ceasefire deal by Israel. The attack was Hezbollah’s first since the ceasefire was enacted last week.
It said complaints to mediators tasked with monitoring the ceasefire “were futile in stopping these violations”.
Earlier, Lebanese authorities said at least two people had been killed in the southern part of the country while the state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike injured people in the town of Talousa.
Lebanon has also accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days, including allegedly demolishing of homes in border villages, persistently flying Israeli reconnaissance drones, and launching airstrikes that have caused casualties.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hezbollah’s projectile firing was “a serious violation” of the ceasefire.
“Israel will respond to it with force,” he said.
“We are determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah, whether minor or severe.”
Escalation as a form of deterrence could have uncontrollable consequences
Israel has struck Hezbollah positions a number of times since the ceasefire came into force at 4am last Thursday – only today, two people were killed by an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.
Now Hezbollah has fired two mortars into Israel close to the border in response.
No one was hurt and, compared to the hundreds of rockets and drones the group was previously firing into Israel, it is reasonably insignificant, except it does underscore just how fragile the truce is.
Both sides accuse the other of violating the ceasefire but neither seems eager to collapse it just yet. The United States, charged with monitoring the truce, says it is holding.
The IDF briefed from the off that they were prepared for some small skirmishes as both sides manage their withdrawals and Lebanese civilians have flooded south to return home.
That prediction appears to be playing out, but as long as calm heads remain there should be no reason for these incidences to threaten the ceasefire.
Benjamin Netanyahu has described Hezbollah’s mortar attack as a “serious violation” and has vowed to respond “with force” – that feels like an overreaction although could be designed to make Hezbollah reconsider any further attacks.
With things as tense as they are though, even a calibrated escalation as a form of deterrence, could have uncontrollable consequences.
Meanwhile, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz promised “a harsh response”.
“What was, will no longer be,” he said.
It comes as the US defence department said the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was mostly holding.
Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said: “Broadly speaking, it is our assessment that despite some of these incidents that we are seeing, the ceasefire is holding,”
The US and French-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday. It called for a 60-day halt in fighting, aiming to end more than a year of exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Both the US and France are tasked with monitoring compliance with the accord. Israel says that it reserves the right under the truce to respond to perceived ceasefire violations.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.