Government reported to restrain IDF action in Lebanon to avoid derailing US-Iran talks

As fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon continues, the government has instructed the Israel Defense Forces to avoid actions that could endanger the emerging deal between the US and Iran, Kan news reported Friday.

The report said the IDF was told to continue with pinpoint operations but to avoid a wider escalation that could jeopardize American efforts to seal an agreement with Tehran to end the war.

The Prime Minister’s Office denied the report as “fake news.”

A senior Trump administration official said Friday the United States was “80 to 85 percent” confident of signing a peace deal with Iran in the coming days. He said the deal would include Lebanon, but that Israel would maintain the right to self-defense against the terror group. Israel has not been a party to the negotiations, and there is concern in Jerusalem that the agreement could tie Israel’s hands.

On Thursday, an IDF official had said the military was poised to launch an offensive against Hezbollah in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. It was not clear whether this operation would take place amid the reported new orders.

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Nabatieh is located northwest of Beaufort Castle, which the IDF retook late last month after evacuating it 26 years ago. The army official said that depending on the decisions of Israeli leaders, forces could advance into Nabatieh, or alternatively head west and continue operations against the terror group along the Litani River.

Fighting continued Friday, with the Israeli Air Force saying it had struck and destroyed five Hezbollah launchers used to fire rockets at troops in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah command center and operatives identified near Israeli forces. It published footage of the strikes.

חיסול מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה והשמדת משגרים:

חיל-האוויר בהכוונת חטיבת האש 7338, תקפו והשמידו חמישה משגרים מהם ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שיגר רקטות לעבר כוחותינו בדרום לבנון ובהם משגר על גבי רכב, מפקדה של הארגון, ומחבלים שפעלו בסמוך לכוחות צה"ל. pic.twitter.com/oBDH4nBN9F

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 12, 2026

It also said it had recently killed more than 10 Hezbollah field commanders who were managing the fight against IDF troops in southern Lebanon.

Friday saw a suspected Hezbollah drone hit a military zone in northern Israel, close to the border with Lebanon, causing no injuries. Sirens had sounded in several towns in the Western Galilee due to the drone and attempts to shoot it down. Another suspected Hezbollah drone, which triggered sirens in the Galilee Panhandle, was intercepted over an area of southern Lebanon where Israeli troops are operating.

Earlier in the day, two suspected Hezbollah drones struck near Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon, also causing no injuries or damage. The “suspicious aerial targets” had triggered drone sirens in several communities in the Western Galilee.

Israel has struggled to fend off growing attacks on troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel by Hezbollah’s first-person view drones, which are largely impervious to jamming technology. The terror group has also fired rockets and other types of UAVs, hitting both military and civilian targets.

The IDF also announced on Friday that Israeli troops had several weeks ago conducted a raid in the southern Lebanon village of Dibbine, located some 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) north of Israel’s border. Dibbine is also north of the IDF’s “forward defense line,” demarcating Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon.

The military said troops located “significant” weapon depots during the raid. The Israeli Air Force also struck some 50 targets amid the operation, destroying dozens of Hezbollah sites and killing operatives, according to the IDF. The army said the village was used by Hezbollah to advance attacks, including anti-tank missile fire, on troops and Israel.

The current bout of conflict began when Hezbollah started attacking northern Israel with rockets and drones in support of Iran days after the US and Israel launched the war with the Islamic Republic in late February.

An April ceasefire in Lebanon collapsed, and the fighting has continued despite a new conditional truce deal announced last week after Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington.

Iran insists that Lebanon must be part of any agreement to end the wider Middle East war.