Iran on Saturday sharply criticised Lebanese President Joseph Aoun for accusing Tehran of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with the United States, while Israel launched fresh air strikes and ordered evacuations across southern Lebanon despite ongoing ceasefire efforts.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Aoun of “political betrayal” after the Lebanese leader said Iran was exploiting Lebanon in its talks with Washington.
In a post on X, Baghaei wrote, “He sells the one standing next to him and buys the one standing against him. He leaves the one who supported him and follows the one who choked him.”
Aoun had said that as Israel and Lebanon were trying to negotiate in a tedious conditions but it progressed and a major breakthrough had been achieved aimed at ending hostilities. He accused Iran of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the United States.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out two air strikes on the town of Sahmar in Lebanon’s western Bekaa Valley, targeting a Shia religious hall and a scout headquarters despite the ceasefire in place.
Lebanese state media reported extensive property damage but no casualties. Videos circulating on social media showed destroyed shops, damaged residential buildings and emergency responders working at the sites.
The Israeli military also issued fresh evacuation orders for residents of Armati, Mashgara, Kafr Huna, Sajad and Ansariya in southern Lebanon. In a post on X, the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, instructed residents of the villages and towns to leave immediately and move north of the Zahrani River.
The latest developments came a day after Hezbollah rejected a U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework agreed upon by Israeli and Lebanese negotiators in Washington.
It appears that the framework agreement to end fighting in Lebanon and which was rejected by Hezbollah may have been deliberately designed to fail, handing Israel greater freedom of action in Lebanon and potentially undermining US-Iran nuclear talks in the process, Al Jazeera quoted Andrea Dessi, assistant professor at the American University of Rome, as saying.
The Lebanese army said that several of its soldiers, including an officer, have been killed in an Israeli strike that hit their military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road in south Lebanon.
Thousands of civilians fled southern Lebanon after Israeli evacuation orders were issued for nine villages, including Anqoun, which was sheltering more than 2,500 displaced people.
With local media reports emerging that Israeli forces carried out air strikes and drone attacks across southern Lebanon, including in the Nabatieh region and around Kfar Tebnit. media reports cited Hezbollah saying that it responded by launching rocket barrages at Israeli troops near Beaufort Castle, a strategic site seized by Israeli forces earlier this week.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon could no longer serve as a battleground for external conflicts and called for an end to the suffering of civilians in the country’s south.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that Hezbollah would withdraw from areas south of the Litani River only if Israeli forces also pulled out of Lebanese territory and any ceasefire remained unconditional.
The renewed military exchanges and deepening political divisions have raised fears that efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire could unravel, further destabilising Lebanon and increasing the risk of a wider regional conflict involving Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.
