A ceasefire has been in place between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon since April 16 – except it cannot be called one by even the most liberal standards.
Since its announcement by the US, Israel and Hezbollah have traded heavy fire, and Israeli forces have continued to demolish villages in southern Lebanon.
According to data compiled by the Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have conducted nearly 1,600 strikes across different parts of Lebanon between April 16 and May 27, 2026. The strikes mainly targeted areas in the north-western, central, and southern parts of Lebanon.
Considered one of the oldest metropolises in the world, the city of Tyre – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – has been asked to evacuate
Similarly, Hezbollah carried out nearly 500 rocket and drone attacks targeting Israeli forces during this period, the data shows.
On May 27, the IDF declared a vast swath of southern Lebanon a “combat zone”, asking residents to move north of the Zahrani River. The new combat zone now stretches nearly 40 km into Lebanon from the Israeli border.
Israel has already established a “buffer zone” – much like in Gaza – a ribbon of land roughly 10 km deep north of the Israeli-Lebanon border, which the IDF describes as its “security zone”. According to reports, Israeli forces have carried out widespread destruction of homes and other civilian infrastructure in this area, with the stated goal of denying shelter to Hezbollah operatives.
At least 14 people were killed in Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon, including in the country’s fourth-largest city, Tyre, on the night of May 27-28, according to the Associated Press. At least one airstrike was also reported in the capital, Beirut.
Israeli troops have crossed the Litani River – a line the military has long treated as an operational boundary – tightening their grip on southern Lebanon. Significant portions of the region remain under Israeli control despite the Washington-brokered ceasefire of April 16.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an escalation of military operations in Lebanon, citing Hezbollah’s deployment of fibre-optic guided drones that have targeted Israeli troops and reached communities along Israel’s northern border.
The IDF said it had carried out hundreds of strikes against what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure.
Lebanese and Israeli officials are set to hold their first security talks in Washington on Friday.
Hezbollah has rejected the negotiations outright, repeatedly pressing Lebanon’s government to pull out of the talks, arguing that Beirut lacks the leverage to halt the fighting or compel an Israeli withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Culture Minister Ghassan Salame has warned of a “serious danger” to heritage sites in Tyre due to the Israeli strikes. “Bombings fell very close to the ruins of Tyre,” he told AFP. “The intensification of the battles means that these sites are in serious danger.”
