Thirteen killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, health ministry says

A three-week extension to the ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump on 23 April, who said the second meeting between the two countries "went very well" and the US would be working with Lebanon "to help it protect itself from Hezbollah".The Iran-backed group was not involved in the ceasefire agreement but had indicated it would abide by its terms if it was also respected by Israel.While the truce largely halted strikes on the capital city Beirut and its southern suburbs, fighting has persisted elsewhere in the south, with continued air raids and repeated evacuation orders.On 30 April, the US embassy in Beirut suggested a meeting between Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would give Lebanon "the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory". The post on X added that this would be "guaranteed by the US". The Lebanese president met with the US ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa on Friday, where Issa affirmed that the US continued support to Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire ending a previous conflict in November 2024, after which Israel carried out near-daily attacks on targets and people it said were linked to Hezbollah.After the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February and killed Iran's supreme leader, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel in retaliation on 2 March.