Hezbollah says it repelled Israeli military advance in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah on Thursday said it thwarted Israeli attempts over the past four days to advance toward the southern Lebanese town of Kfartebnit and the Ali al-Taher area, claiming to have inflicted casualties and material losses on the attacking forces.

The statement marked the group's first military announcement in nearly 48 hours, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

The pace of Israeli attacks on Lebanon has generally slowed over the past three days, coinciding with a US-Iran agreement intended to pave the way for ending the war launched by Washington and Tel Aviv against Tehran on Feb. 28.

Hezbollah said the Israeli army had been attempting for four days to advance toward Kfartebnit and the Ali al-Taher area along multiple routes, backed by heavy artillery fire and aerial surveillance carried out by reconnaissance aircraft.

It said its fighters confronted all of those attempts by targeting Israeli troop movements with rockets, drones, and loitering munitions, "inflicting losses among officers, soldiers, and military vehicles, forcing the troops to withdraw and use helicopters under cover of smoke and artillery fire to evacuate their casualties."

According to the statement, Hezbollah fighters detected at 8 pm local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday an Israeli infantry force infiltrating the northeastern outskirts of Kfartebnit and targeted it with a swarm of drones and "Ababil" loitering munitions, leaving its members dead or wounded.

Hezbollah also said that at 1.50 am local time on Thursday (2250 GMT Wednesday), while Israeli forces were attempting to regroup near the crossing area, its fighters struck a Merkava tank with a direct hit, forcing the assembled troops to withdraw.

The group asserted that Israeli forces remain positioned on the southern outskirts of Kfartebnit from the direction of Arnoun and vowed that the Kfartebnit-Ali al-Taher area "will remain impervious" to any Israeli ground incursion.

On Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian electronically signed the "Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding," while Pakistani mediators officially announced its entry into force.

Under the arrangement, Iran is set to begin reopening the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic in exchange for the US starting to lift its naval blockade imposed on Tehran.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said that halting Israeli military actions across regional fronts, particularly in Lebanon, is among the key objectives of the Iran-US memorandum.

Israel has been waging an offensive on Lebanon since March 2, killing 3,912 people, injuring 11,873 others and displacing more than 1 million, according to the latest official figures.

Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, some for decades and others since the latest conflict between the two sides. During the recent military campaign, Israeli forces advanced more than 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory.