TEHRAN – Hezbollah puts up heavy resistance against invading Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, while authorities enter direct talks with the occupation regime.

The resistance movement has executed a series of operations with drones and missiles against gatherings of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the regime’s military vehicles in Bint Jbeil and its outskirts, directly striking them.

Hezbollah has vowed to continue resisting, underlining that “defending Lebanon and its people, responding to the regime’s breaches of the ceasefire agreement and repeated attacks on southern villages, and after the Lebanese resistance upheld the ceasefire while the regime did not.” 

In its latest operations, Hezbollah targeted a gathering of IOF soldiers near the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil with a swarm of dive drones, scoring direct hits. Hezbollah fighters targeted gatherings of IOF vehicles and soldiers near Al-Ishraq School, also in Bint Jbeil and the Liberation Triangle, with successive rocket barrages.

Furthermore, Hezbollah announced that it targeted an IOF command position between Aynata and Bint Jbeil with a drone swarm, inflicting direct hits.
Resistance fighters also targeted gatherings of the regime’s soldiers and vehicles with rocket barrages and loitering munitions at the Al-Malikiyah. 

The IOF announced that eleven of its troops have sustained injuries as a result of combat with Hezbollah in Bint Jbeil.  

Hezbollah fighters targeted an IOF gathering in Taybeh with a drone swarm, achieving direct hits. They struck an IOF gathering on the Lebanese border area of Shamaa with a drone swarm. Hezbollah fighters also targeted an IOF gathering in Al-Bayyada with a drone swarm.

In response to the regime’s assaults, resistance forces also targeted an IOF Merkava tank near the Mis al-Jabal hospital with a drone, directly hitting it. Furthermore, Hezbollah attacked an IOF military vehicle carrying a command crew in Taybeh with a drone, followed by targeting the Kiryat Shmona settlement with a drone swarm.

Further rocket salvos hit IOF gathering points at the Hanita site and the villages of Al-Bayyada, Ain Ebel, and Rashaf.

In response to the regime’s aggression, Hezbollah attacked the settlements of Hanita, Shlomi, Nahariya, and Al-Malikiyah with intense, successive rocket barrages. Rocket attacks also targeted IOF infrastructure in the Ma’a lot Tarshiha and Karmiel settlements.

This comes as the occupation regime continues to violate the ceasefire agreement between Iran and the United States, a key clause of which was to include Lebanon, as confirmed by Iran and the Pakistani announcement of the agreement. However, Washington and the occupation regime have reneged on their commitments, as the regime continues its aggression against southern villages.

Earlier, a salvo of specialized Hezbollah rockets targeted Israel’s Teven base east of Acre.

Resistance fighters carried out an attack using a swarm of loitering munitions on the Sharaga base (the administrative headquarters of the Golani Brigade) north of Acre, and targeted the Ma’ale Golani barracks with another swarm of drones.

Also on Tuesday, the Lebanese resistance movement announced more operations targeting the IOF in Lebanese territory and military sites in northern occupied Palestine. These operations targeted military gathering points, vehicles, control rooms, and military barracks.

In more statements, Hezbollah confirmed that it hit a fire control room near the Kafr Jaladi area and IOF barracks at Leiman, located north of Nahariya, using two precision-guided drones. Hezbollah fighters also launched missiles at the Miskaf Am settlement.

In further operations, Hezbollah continued to confront the IOF in the south and attack its positions and settlements in the  north, affirming that “this response will continue until the Israeli-American aggression on our country and people stops.”

The IOF has named yet another soldier killed during combat in southern Lebanon. Three others sustained serious injuries and have been taken to hospital, the IOF acknowledged. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has confirmed that the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was among those taking part in talks between the Zionist regime and Lebanese officials in Washington on Tuesday.

Yechiel Leiter, the regime’s ambassador to the U.S., and Nada Hamadeh, the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S., attended the meeting. A State Department official said: “The Israeli and Lebanese governments are engaging in open, direct, high-level diplomatic talks.”

It is the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and the Zionist regime, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet face-to-face in direct talks.

Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Associated Press, “As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli regime, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all.”

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem firmly rejected negotiations, stating that such talks are futile and would require a national consensus.

On Monday, Naim Qassem said the Lebanese resistance movement “absolutely rejects” the talks, saying they amount to “submission, surrender, and stripping Lebanon of its strength”. 

In a televised speech, Qassem indicated that this approach is part of a series of free concessions made by the Lebanese authorities, which have practically proven to be losing concessions that humiliate Lebanon, both its government and its people. He questioned: “You say you want a ceasefire, but what does the other side want, and what leverage do you hold?”

The Secretary-General further argued that the aggression respects no humanitarian or moral considerations and is outright occupation. He highlighted the resilience of the resistance fighters, the people, and Lebanon, leading up to the state signing an indirect ceasefire agreement with the regime in November 2024.

He added the ceasefire agreement stipulated a complete halt to the aggression, the release of prisoners, and the start of reconstruction. However, he pointed out that the occupation regime did not implement any of its clauses for over 15 months, despite hundreds of martyrs and wounded, with no diplomatic progress.

He noted that Hezbollah's response came at the right time, exposing a major Zionist regime’s plan prepared for Lebanon, thwarting its surprises and preventing major losses.

Qassem clarified that the regime’s goals are clear: to destroy Lebanon’s strength in preparation for what it calls “Greater Israel.” He affirmed that all of Lebanon is targeted, as occupying the south means occupying Lebanon, and targeting multiple areas means the entire country is under attack.

He stressed that the Lebanese state should confront the aggression and task its army with doing so. While weakness might excuse a lack of confrontation, he argued, the state being a tool for the regime, by applying pressure and making decisions that weaken the internal situation, is inexcusable.

Qassem noted that the Israeli regime and the U.S. have clearly declared their desire for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah, confront it, abolish Hezbollah’s institutions, and eliminate the resistance and its people. He stated they want an army that fights its own people, which he said will not happen.