What to know about the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — In the hours after the U.S. and Iran announced a tentative ceasefire, Israel dramatically escalated its attacks in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The burst of strikes in central Beirut and other parts of the country killed over 300 people and wounded 1,150, according to health officials.

The Israeli military said it had targeted sites affiliated with Hezbollah and announced that it had killed an aide to the group's leader, Naim Kassem. But the strikes, which hit densely packed residential and commercial districts at rush hour, also killed more than 100 women, children and elderly, according to health officials.

Hezbollah retaliated to the heavy strikes — which prompted an international outcry — by launching missiles into in Israel, though no serious casualties have been reported.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted after the U.S. and Israeli launched a war against Iran in late February. Since the ceasefire announced by U.S. and Iran earlier this week, a heated debate has ensued over whether it applies to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah; Iran says it does, while the U.S. and Israel say it does not.

Israel and Hezbollah have fought multiple wars since the militant group was formed in the 1980s as a guerrilla force resisting Israel’s then-occupation of southern Lebanon.

On March 2, two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, Hezbollah launched missiles toward Israel. It said the salvo was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for “repeated Israeli aggressions” in Lebanon.

The resumption of fighting came 15 months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted their previous war. That conflict started a day after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, began firing on Israel after it launched its blistering counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza. What began as a low-level conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border region erupted into a full-scale war in September 2024.

After a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, Israel kept up near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon, saying it aimed to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Israeli troops also continued to occupy five hilltops on the Lebanese side of the border.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, was under domestic and international pressure to surrender its remaining arsenal. The group stayed largely quiet and didn’t enter the fray during last summer's 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Many believed that the group was too weakened to fight after suffering heavy losses in the 2024 conflict and so were surprised when it entered the war following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

As of Thursday, 1,888 people had been killed and more than 6,092 had been wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since March 2, according to the country’s health ministry. It is not clear how many of those were civilians, but they include hundreds of women, children and health workers. Wednesday's strikes killed 30 children, 71 women and nine people over the age of 65, the health ministry said.

More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. Israel has issued a series of blanket warnings for residents to leave wide swaths of the country, often followed by bombardment of those areas. Many are sleeping in cars, on the streets or in overcrowded schools turned into shelters.

Israeli officials say Hezbollah has launched thousands of missiles and drones across the border but that most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. The Israeli army says 12 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon and more than 400 wounded.

There have also been a small number of civilian fatalities in northern Israel, including one man killed by a rocket strike and another who was accidentally killed by Israeli army artillery fire during fighting along the border. The steady stream of missiles and drones has residents on edge in northern Israel. Many are angry that the government hasn’t offered to pay to evacuate them as it did during the last war.

The Israeli army has also launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Fierce battles have erupted with Hezbollah militants in the border area and U.N. peacekeeping forces have at times been caught in the middle; three members of the U.N. force have been killed.

Some Israeli officials have called for their military to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Israeli forces have demolished homes in villages along the border line. Many displaced Lebanese fear that Israel plans to create a depopulated buffer zone and they will never be able to return to their homes.

Lebanese officials have sought to directly negotiate with Israel to halt the fighting. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to enter into talks that would focus on disarming Hezbollah and a possible peace deal.

When the U.S. and Iran announced a tentative ceasefire agreement Wednesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, whose country served as a mediator, said in a social media post that it applied to “everywhere including Lebanon." Iranian officials also insist the deal includes Lebanon. But the U.S. and Israel are adamant it does not.

Hezbollah has said it will not abide by the ceasefire unless Israel does.

Joe Macaron, a Middle East analyst, said the ensuing negotiations will be “a test of how much the Iranian regime is committed to help Hezbollah." It is unlikely Israel will agree to — or be forced by the U.S. to accept — a full ceasefire and withdrawal from Lebanon, he said.

While the U.S. might pressure Israel to halt strikes in central Beirut, a “long war of attrition” is likely to unfold between Israel and Hezbollah in the south, he said. The Israeli military isn't capable of controlling the entire area south of the Litani River, Hezbollah isn't capable of forcing Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon, and neither Israel nor the Lebanese state can forcibly disarm the group, he said.

The only resolution will have to be a negotiated settlement, Macaron said.

Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, contributed to this report.

A woman carries a flag of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during a ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A first responder emerges through the smoke at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israeli military mobile artillery unit fires towards southern Lebanon from northern Israel, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In a potential boost to Middle East ceasefire efforts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” aimed at disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors.

The two countries have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Netanyahu later stressed that there was no ceasefire between them. In a video statement, the Israeli leader said Israel will keep striking Hezbollah until security is restored in northern Israel.

There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities. But Israel-Lebanon negotiations were expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The prospect of talks appeared to bolster the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war that has staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut, Tehran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over whether planned peace talks can find common ground.

Netanyahu's announcement came amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes that resulted in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began on Feb. 28.

Israel has fought multiple wars and launched several major invasions over the years, most recently sending in large numbers of troops last month in response to Hezbollah fire on Israel’s northern border communities.

The launch of direct peace talks is a significant achievement, though reaching a deal will be difficult after decades of hostilities, Hezbollah’s continued presence and longstanding disagreements over the exact route of their shared border.

The talks in Washington are expected to be handled on the American side by the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the situation.

It was not immediately clear who would represent Lebanon.

Axios first reported the timing and location of the talks.

After declaring victory with the ceasefire announcement, both Iran and the U.S. appeared to apply pressure on each other. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested forces have mined the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil that Tehran has closed. President Donald Trump warned that U.S. forces would hit Iran harder than before if it did not fulfill the agreement.

Questions also remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the strait, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a message on Telegram that the decision to accept a ceasefire was made unanimously by senior government leaders and approved by the supreme leader. He said the ceasefire “is not a sign of weakness but a way to solidify Iran’s proud victories."

Despite the fragile and disputed nature of the ceasefire, it appeared to have halted weeks of missile and drone attacks by Iran on its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel, with no new launches reported Thursday. There were no reports of strikes by the U.S. or Israel targeting Iran.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses” in a social media post.

Qalibaf has been discussed as a possible negotiator who could meet U.S. Vice President JD Vance this weekend in Islamabad. The White House has said Vance would lead the delegation for talks starting Saturday.

Iran had said Israel's ongoing attacks on Hezbollah were violating the ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu and Trump have said it was not.

Hours before opening the way for talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah “with force, precision and determination.”

Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 300 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded Wednesday in Israeli strikes in central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon that Israel said targeted Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of Tehran.

Israel said Thursday it killed an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, Ali Yusuf Harshi. Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A New York-based think tank warned that the ceasefire “ hovers on the verge of collapse ” following Israel's strikes Wednesday.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike overnight killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war — a message that may be intended to pressure the United States.

The chart, released by the ISNA news agency and Tasnim, showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the route ships take through the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas once passed.

Only a trickle of ships have transited since the war began after several were attacked, and Iran threatened to hit any that it deemed connected to the U.S. or Israel. Ships appeared to continue to avoid the strait even after the ceasefire.

The chart suggested that ships travel through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from Feb. 28 until April 9, and it was unclear if the Guard had cleared any mines since then.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told the BBC that his country will allow ships to pass through the strait in accordance with “international norms and international law” once the United States ends its “aggression” in the Middle East and Israel stops attacking Lebanon.

The head of the United Arab Emirates’ major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed "to navigate this corridor without condition.”

The strait’s de facto closure has caused oil prices to skyrocket — affecting the cost of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East. Oil prices fell Wednesday on news of the ceasefire but climbed again as uncertainty over the deal grew.

The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $98 Thursday, up about 35% since the war began.

The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war — also remained unclear. The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, buried in last year's U.S. and Israeli strikes, though Iran did not confirm that. In one version of the ceasefire deal that Iran published, it said it would be allowed to continue enrichment.

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks.

Trump warned that U.S. warships and troops will remain around Iran “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.”

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Zeke Miller and Matthew Lee in Washington and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.

Men inspect the damage to their home destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Lebanese civil defense workers inspect the rubble at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese civil defense workers search for victims in the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man gathers his belongings from his home, which has been destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A government supporter weeps during a mourning ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S. and Israel strikes in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Government supporters walk past a billboard depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as they gather to mark the 40th day since the killing of his father, slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A sign for a roadside hotel is seen on Road 2 near Golhahr, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

People inspect the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Government supporters gather to mark the 40th day since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A rescue worker extinguishes burning cars at the site of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ali, 4, holds a toy horse next to the tent his family uses as a shelter after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Government supporters gather ahead of the funeral procession for Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, head of intelligence for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-U.S. billboard depicting American aircraft being caught by Iranian armed forces in a fishing net beneath the words in Farsi, "The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground," in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)