In a statement, the Iran-backed group said Israeli forces attempted to advance toward the hills under the cover of the ceasefire. Hezbollah said its fighters ambushed the troops and engaged them with what it described as “appropriate weapons,” forcing a confrontation in the area.

The group did not provide details on casualties or the duration of the clash, and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Hezbollah’s account.

Hezbollah said the incident demonstrated its determination to respond to any perceived violation of Lebanese territory while maintaining its commitment to the existing ceasefire arrangement.

“While it is committed to the ceasefire, it will not be lenient in confronting any enemy attempt to expand its occupation,” the group said in its statement.

The reported confrontation occurred near Nabatieh, a key city in southern Lebanon that has frequently been affected by hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The Ali Taher hills are considered strategically significant because of their elevated position overlooking surrounding areas.

The claim came hours after reports of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, where smoke was seen rising from areas around Nabatieh. The latest developments underscore the fragility of the ceasefire and the continuing risk of renewed escalation along the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

Neither side immediately released independent verification of the events described by Hezbollah.

UNIFIL said the peacekeeper died from critical injuries sustained during Wednesday night’s attack on a base located near the border area where Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters continue to clash. The mission said an investigation had been launched and called on relevant authorities to examine the incident.

Serbia’s defense ministry identified the deceased soldier as Milovan Jovanovic, a senior sergeant who was evacuated to a medical center in Beirut after receiving emergency treatment at the base but later succumbed to his injuries.

The death raises the number of UNIFIL personnel killed since the latest round of hostilities began in March to seven. Around 170 Serbian troops serve within the 7,500-member UN force deployed along the Blue Line, the de facto border separating Lebanon and Israel.

UNIFIL said it had recorded an increasing number of projectiles and impacts across southern Lebanon and renewed calls for an end to the violence.

The peacekeeping mission has suffered multiple casualties in recent months. In March, two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in separate incidents, while in April two French peacekeepers died in an ambush that French authorities and the UN attributed to Hezbollah, a claim the group denied.

Earlier this week, Antonio Guterres said UN peacekeepers would continue to be needed in Lebanon beyond the expiration of UNIFIL’s current mandate at the end of the year.

The conflict has intensified despite ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire and broader regional de-escalation. Areas south of the Litani River have been largely depopulated and heavily damaged, while Israeli military activity has increasingly extended north of the river.

Recent clashes have highlighted Hezbollah’s evolving battlefield approach. According to Israeli media reports cited in the source material, a Hezbollah fighter infiltrated an area near Qawzah, north of the border, and killed an Israeli major before escaping. In another reported incident, a Hezbollah drone targeted the commander of Israel’s 401st Armored Brigade in the town of Debel.

Military sources cited in the report said Hezbollah has largely moved away from the extensive use of guided missiles and rocket barrages that characterized earlier phases of the conflict. Instead, the group is relying on small, mobile units conducting ambushes, infiltration operations and drone attacks designed to inflict casualties while avoiding direct confrontation with Israel’s superior air power and surveillance capabilities.

Analysts said advances in Israeli intelligence gathering, including drones, surveillance balloons and satellite monitoring, have made traditional launch-and-withdraw tactics increasingly difficult. As a result, Hezbollah has adapted by dispersing fighters into smaller independent units operating across multiple locations.

A Lebanese military source said the growing use of fiber-optic first-person-view drones has altered the nature of the battlefield by enabling more precise attacks against Israeli positions. However, Israeli forces continue to maintain overwhelming advantages in airpower, intelligence collection and long-range strike capabilities.

The humanitarian impact has continued to mount. According to figures cited in the report, more than 3,120 civilians have been killed and over 9,500 wounded since March 2. Israeli forces recently issued additional evacuation warnings covering dozens of villages north of the Litani River ahead of further military operations.

The destruction has fueled debate inside Lebanon over the costs of continued fighting. Israeli newspaper reports cited in the article suggested that Hezbollah faces difficulties rebuilding its ranks and is under pressure to reach a ceasefire, although the group has not publicly commented on such claims.

Retired Lebanese military officials offered differing assessments of the conflict’s trajectory. Retired Major General Abdul Rahman Chehaitli argued that Hezbollah’s guerrilla tactics complicate Israeli efforts to hold territory but are unlikely to produce a decisive military outcome.

He said civilians and the Lebanese state remain the principal victims of the confrontation.
Retired Brigadier General Khalil Jamil said Hezbollah’s tactics can impose costs on Israeli forces but are unlikely to compel a withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

He argued that Israel increasingly views the conflict through an existential security lens and has demonstrated a willingness to sustain a prolonged campaign despite casualties and domestic pressure.
Both officers agreed that a military solution remains unlikely and that negotiations ultimately represent the only viable path to ending the conflict.

Diplomatic attention is focused on upcoming security discussions expected later this month between Israeli and Lebanese officials under U.S. sponsorship, followed by a broader political track in June. The talks come amid wider regional diplomacy, including ongoing discussions between the United States and Iran.
Israel continues to reject any arrangement that would permit Hezbollah to maintain a presence in southern border areas, while Lebanon is seeking a comprehensive ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, prisoner releases, the return of displaced civilians and reconstruction assistance.

According to Yassin Jaber, economic losses from the war, including damage to homes, infrastructure and businesses, have reached approximately $20 billion. He said international aid flows have been significantly lower than those received during previous conflicts.

As diplomatic efforts continue, fighting on the ground shows little sign of easing, leaving southern Lebanon caught between Hezbollah’s campaign of resistance and Israel’s determination to secure its northern frontier.

The deadliest strike hit the town of Habboush, where eight people were killed, including a child and two women, and 21 others were wounded, the ministry said. An earlier evacuation warning had been issued by the Israeli military, which urged residents to move at least one kilometer away and said it would act “forcefully” against what it described as Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes launched heavy strikes less than an hour after the warning, while an AFP photographer at the scene said thick clouds of smoke rose above the town following the bombardment.

Additional strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, including two women, and wounded four others, while another strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and injured seven, according to the ministry.Israel has continued military operations in Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire intended to halt more than six weeks of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel retains the right to respond to what it defines as planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.The Israeli military has maintained operations inside a so-called “Yellow Line,” a roughly 10-kilometer-deep zone along Lebanon’s southern border, where troops have carried out demolitions and detonations of buildings and infrastructure.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli forces on Friday demolished a monastery and a school run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun, following earlier destruction of homes, shops and roads. It also reported artillery shelling and strikes in other areas, including around Tyre and Shamaa.

Hezbollah said it launched a series of retaliatory attacks on Israeli troops and military sites in southern Lebanon, describing them as a response to repeated Israeli ceasefire violations.The group entered the wider regional conflict in March by firing rockets into Israel following the U.S.-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, according to the group’s previous statements.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 had risen to more than 2,600 people, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.Humanitarian agencies also voiced concern over the safety of rescue teams operating in conflict zones. Xavier Castellanos, under-secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Lebanese Red Cross volunteers were carrying out missions under constant threat.

“When they go on a mission, they fear for their lives,” Castellanos told reporters near Beirut, adding that two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics were among those killed in Israeli strikes.He said attacks on humanitarian workers trying to save lives were “absolutely unacceptable.”

The ministry said two separate Israeli strikes targeted a truck and a motorbike in the town of Yohmor Al-Shaqeef in Nabatieh district, resulting in four deaths.“Two Israeli enemy strikes, on a truck and a motorbike, in the town of Yohmor Al-Shaqeef in the Nabatieh district killed four people,” the ministry said in a statement.

The latest deaths followed Israeli attacks on Friday that killed six people in the southern areas of Wadi Al-Hujair, Touline, Srifa and Yater, according to Lebanese authorities.The renewed violence came days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced in Washington that the 10-day ceasefire that began on April 17 had been extended by three weeks in an effort to contain further escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah entered the wider regional conflict on March 2 by launching rockets toward Israel, saying it was retaliating for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, further expanding the Middle East war.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli artillery shelling across several locations in the south on Saturday, along with what it described as a “violent explosion” in Khiam, a strategic border town east of the frontier with Israel.

The agency has previously accused Israeli forces of systematically destroying homes and civilian structures in Khiam and nearby villages.Israel’s military on Saturday renewed warnings to residents not to return to dozens of villages and towns inside what it calls the “yellow line,” a zone extending around 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory along much of the southern border.

The army also said it had struck Hezbollah rocket launchers overnight in several areas, describing the operations as part of efforts to prevent renewed militant attacks.

Israeli officials have maintained that military action in southern Lebanon is aimed at neutralizing immediate threats near the border and preventing Hezbollah from re-establishing launch positions close to Israeli communities.

Lebanese authorities say more than 2,490 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, reflecting the scale of destruction despite repeated ceasefire attempts.On Friday, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayad said the group retained the right to respond to Israeli “aggressions” during the truce and argued that extending the ceasefire “makes no sense” while Israeli military operations continue.

The continued strikes have raised concerns that the fragile truce may collapse entirely, with both sides maintaining military pressure despite diplomatic efforts to prevent a broader regional war.