Israeli troops push deeper into Lebanon as the two sides start military
talks at the Pentagon
[May 30, 2026]
By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli troops entered a southern Lebanese village early
Friday, pushing deeper into the country as Lebanese and Israeli military
officials held direct talks at the Pentagon over the deadly conflict.
The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the
town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six
people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun
al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the
village of Ebba, state media reported.
In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation met Friday with
Israeli military officials in the first direct military talks between
the two countries in decades.
The Pentagon, in a statement released late Friday, said the talks were
“productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or
achievements. It said the talks "focused on building practical
frameworks for regional security and stability” and the “tangible
outcomes” from their discussions will directly inform the negotiations
with political leaders being conducted by the State Department next
week.
Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going
on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah,
Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused
to accept their results.
A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese
military official told The Associated Press earlier on Friday that the
Lebanese delegation, led by the army's head of operations Brig. Gen.
George Rizkallah, would aim to make it comprehensive.
The official added the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation
of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier U.S.-brokered
ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.
Another Lebanese official, who was briefed throughout the day about the
talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the
comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing
hostilities.
He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on
matters such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the
withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.
President Joseph Aoun's office said he received a call Friday from U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in
Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun's office
said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on
implementing the ceasefire as it is “the essential entry point for
transitioning to any other issues.”
In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington
in more than three decades.
The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern
Lebanon on Friday, forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas
further north.
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Mourners pray over the bodies of family members killed on Wednesday
when their car was struck in an Israeli airstrike on a highway as
they fled their village, during a funeral procession in the southern
port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed
Zaatari)
Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of
Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they
crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has
used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under
Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.
Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days
in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli
troops inside Yohmor.
The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle
that is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Israeli border and
overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if
Israeli troops are trying to capture the castle, which lies north of
the Litani.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern
front Friday where he spoke to members of the military. “I must tell
you that there are very impressive results here. Our forces have
crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he
said.
“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa, across the entire width
of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow,”
Netanyahu said referring to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and
Beirut's southern suburbs where Israel's air force struck on
Thursday.
The violence in southern Lebanon came as U.S. and Iranian
negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the
ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of
talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official
familiar with the matter.
Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance
on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but
said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.
Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said Friday that any deal
between Iran and the U.S. would stop Israel’s offensive in Lebanon.
Officials in Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, have said that they
insist that a deal with Washington would stop the latest
Israel-Hezbollah war that started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired
rockets into northern Israel two days after Israel and Iran attacked
in Iran.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has left 3,200 people dead in
Lebanon and over 1 million people displaced.
___
Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Kareem
Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut.
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