Israeli drone strikes killed at least eight people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, including a father and his two children, just a day after President Donald Trump declared that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to scale back their fighting. The attack on a vehicle near Nabatiyeh, reported by Lebanese state media, came despite Trump’s assertion that both sides had committed to a de‑escalation deal brokered by Washington. Israeli forces also ordered residents to evacuate Nabatiyeh, signalling further operations, as the military said Hezbollah had violated the terms of the truce.

Trump’s announcement, posted on his Truth Social platform late Monday, claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised not to send troops into Beirut and that Hezbollah would “cease fire completely”. Yet within hours, Hezbollah launched drones and rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, while Israel struck roughly 30 locations across the south. The Iran‑backed militia publicly rejected what it termed a “partial agreement”, insisting it would only stop its attacks if Israel fully withdrew from Lebanese territory. Israeli Defence Minister stressed that Beirut’s southern suburbs remained legitimate targets, and the military warned that its operations would continue.

The diplomatic track continued in parallel, with a fourth round of face‑to‑face talks opening at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday. The ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon, two countries without formal diplomatic relations, met with senior US officials for scheduled two‑day negotiations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the sidelines, put the onus on Hezbollah, stating that without the group’s obstruction, a peace deal could be concluded “by tomorrow”. Lebanon’s representatives have been pushing for a full ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal that would allow reconstruction of the devastated south, while Israel insists the Lebanese army must first disarm Hezbollah.

The apparent disjunction between Washington’s proclaimed breakthrough and the ongoing violence underscored the fragility of the mediation effort. Viewed from Beirut, the US‑brokered pause seemed almost instantly obsolete; from northern Israel, residents again scrambled for shelters after rocket alerts. Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, had earlier issued stark warnings that helped forestall a planned Israeli assault on Beirut, according to some regional analysts, but it has not restrained the militia’s battlefield responses. The Israeli incursion, the deepest into Lebanon in 26 years, has displaced thousands and left over 3,000 dead since March, according to figures reported in Spanish‑language media.

Whether the Washington talks can yield a durable cessation of hostilities remains doubtful. The US is reportedly developing a plan to train Lebanese government forces to confront Hezbollah, but the scheme is long‑term and does not address the immediate fighting. For now, the gap between the Trump administration’s triumphant narrative and the reality on the ground in southern Lebanon is yawning, and each side appears determined to use force to shape the terms of any eventual settlement.