Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Monday it had attacked an Israeli force trying to advance in southern Lebanon despite the US-Iran agreement to end the Middle East war.

Fighters from the group "using rockets and drones" blocked an Israeli force consisting of an excavator and two Merkava tanks that was "advancing" in the vicinity of Kfar Tebnit town near the southern city of Nabatieh, Hezbollah said in a statement.

In another statement late on Monday, it added: "The enemy army regrouped its forces in the vicinity of the crossing area by bringing in an armoured force consisting of five Merkava tanks and four vehicles.

"The mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance targeted them with rocket barrages and artillery shells, and the clashes are still ongoing".

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli drone targeted a car in the same area "killing its driver," Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported, marking the first deadly strike since the agreement was announced.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, said there had been fewer clashes on Monday.

"We just got an update from our peacekeeping colleagues at Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), who report that from midnight until 4.00 pm local time today, Unifil observed a decrease in violence and exchanges of fire, recording 133 trajectories of projectiles and two airstrikes attributed to the IDF (Israel Defence Force).

"No trajectories from Hizbullah or non-State actors were reported during that time".

Details of the agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts have not been made public, but Iran and mediator Pakistan have both said it includes Lebanon.

Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 3,700 people and displaced more than one million others.

An official source told AFP that "Lebanon was not informed of the terms of the agreement or the time of the ceasefire".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Monday that his troops would remain in southern Lebanon as long as needed, saying Iran had demanded a withdrawal but that he "stood firm".

He said the Israeli military would maintain "freedom of action" in Lebanon to thwart attacks by Hezbollah and that it killed four militants who approached Israeli troops.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it rejected any situation in which Israel could keep up its strikes on Lebanon and warned Israel against continuing attacks.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the security zone in southern Lebanon would be cleared of local residents and "all terrorist infrastructure, including houses", a reference to Hezbollah.

The Israeli military has been razing villages in southern Lebanon for weeks, saying it is acting against Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas of the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim region. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese Shi'ites are sheltering in other parts of the country.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun issued a carefully worded statement on Monday in response to the US-Iran deal, saying he was grateful to those who had worked towards de-escalation in Lebanon and appreciated the deal's recognition of the importance of his country's stability. (Agencies)



Edited by Cecil Wong