A man looking at the destruction caused by Israeli attacks on Nabatieh, on June 15, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters clashed intensely during the early hours of Wednesday morning around the strategic Ali Taher hill southeast of Nabatieh, where Israeli forces continue trying to advance under heavy air and artillery support.
According to information relayed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South, Hezbollah has so far repelled these attempts to advance, notably by using guided missiles against Merkava tanks and Israeli military vehicles. The party has yet to comment on the clashes.
Israeli forces bombarded the area throughout the night and targeted the neighboring localities of Nabatieh Fawqa, Kfar Tibnit, Kfar Joz, Kfar Roummane, Mayfadoun, and Habboush.
Sporadic Israeli artillery fire continued on Kfar Tibnit and Nabatieh Fawqa (Nabatieh district). Shells notably struck the area surrounding the teachers' training institute in the city of Nabatieh.
Israeli artillery also targeted the Jabal Rafih area on the heights of Aramta (Jezzine district).
Israeli forces carried out another ground movement in Khiam, in the Marjayoun district, before withdrawing toward Sarda and Amra, south of the town. Local sources said the maneuver could form part of a broader redeployment of Israeli troops in the area.
At 6:30 a.m., an Israeli booby-trapped drone crashed in an open area near the Hussein Taleb restaurant in Ansarieh, in the Saida district, causing only material damage.
Earlier, around 5 a.m., Israeli artillery struck the vicinity of the Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital in Nabatieh, hitting, among other sites, the building of the Taqaddom al-Mara charitable association.
Israeli strikes on four different towns in south Lebanon killed six people on Tuesday, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent, despite an ongoing cease-fire, as thousands of displaced residents continued to return home. An unexploded munition killed a seventh person.
In response to these attacks, Iran's military threatened a "severe response," according to state media.
"If the child-killing army of the Zionist regime does not put an end to its aggression in south Lebanon, it should expect a severe response from the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Khatam al-Anbiya armed forces command said in a statement carried by state television IRIB.
According to the command, Israel has violated the cease-fire in Lebanon 84 times since the U.S.-Iran agreement was announced on Monday.
The U.S. and Iran are set to sign on Friday in Switzerland a memorandum of understanding, which provides for "the immediate and permanent end of the war on all fronts, including Lebanon." Israel has repeatedly insisted the agreement does not include it, and refuses to halt attacks on Lebanon and withdraw from the 600 kilometers it occupies in the South.
