Despite President Donald Trump's announcement Monday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop fighting, military operations continued across the Lebanon-Israel border on Tuesday with fresh strikes, casualties, and provocations that suggested the ceasefire claims were premature at best.
Trump declared on his Truth Social platform that he had secured commitments from both sides to halt combat. According to the president, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives, and secured pledges that "all shooting will stop." The statement came after Iran threatened to walk away from ongoing nuclear negotiations with Washington, signaling that Israel's escalating military campaign in Lebanon risked derailing broader diplomatic efforts.
The diplomatic maneuver appeared designed to head off Iranian retaliation and restore fragile talks that had seemed close to producing an agreement just days earlier. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that if Israeli attacks on Lebanon continued, Tehran would not only suspend negotiations but would "stand against the Zionist regime."
Yet the ground told a different story Tuesday morning. The Lebanese Civil Defense reported six people killed in an Israeli strike on the village of Marwaniyeh in southern Lebanon, though the exact timing remained unclear. In the southern port city of Nabatieh, a civil defense center took a direct hit from an Israeli airstrike, damaging the building and its equipment. Two Lebanese Army soldiers were wounded after being targeted by an Israeli drone in the same area.
The Israeli military told NBC News it had struck targets in Nabatieh but claimed they were Hezbollah infrastructure sites. The military also said it had intercepted at least two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory overnight and identified a suspicious aerial target near Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon.
Tensions had spiked Monday after Netanyahu announced plans to strike "terror targets" in Beirut's southern suburbs in response to Hezbollah attacks. The threat triggered scenes of panic in the Lebanese capital, where thousands of displaced residents were already seeking shelter after fleeing Israel's aerial and ground assault in the south. Trump's call with Netanyahu came shortly after, according to Axios reporting that cited multiple sources, in which Trump called the prime minister "crazy" in an expletive-laden conversation.
Trump said he ordered Netanyahu to pull back troops from Beirut and reverse course on any reinforcements being sent to the Lebanese capital. "No Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back," Trump posted. The White House and Netanyahu's office did not immediately comment on the call details.
The Lebanese Embassy in Washington stated that Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal calling for a "mutual cessation of attacks" and commitments that would prevent Israel from striking Beirut. That agreement appeared significant given how close Israel and Hezbollah had come to full-scale conflict, and represented the deepest cross-border Israeli operation in 26 years.
Trump's direct engagement with Hezbollah marked a significant shift in American diplomacy. The militant group is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, making Trump's claim that he had a "very good call with Hezbollah" unusual, if not unprecedented, for a U.S. president.
The president also downplayed Iran's threat to abandon nuclear talks, telling NBC News he wasn't informed ahead of time about the suspension decision but thought it was appropriate. "They're better negotiators than they are fighters," Trump said, though he later stated on Truth Social that "Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Trump's ceasefire announcement reads like political theater with real bullets flying underneath, and until the strikes actually stop instead of just being promised away on social media, nobody should be celebrating anything."
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