Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on April 11, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's health ministry said 10 people including three emergency workers were killed by Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Saturday, as state media reported raids on more than a dozen locations.
The ministry said three deadly strikes hit locations in the Nabatiyeh district, with the dead including a member of the Lebanese civil defence and two paramedics from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, decrying what it said was Israel's "systematic" targeting of emergency workers.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Saturday reiterated his Iran-backed group's rejection of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, a day after Lebanon's president said a meeting would take place next week in Washington.
The move is "a blatant violation of the (national) pact, the constitution and Lebanese laws... and it exacerbates domestic divisions at a time when Lebanon most needs solidarity and internal unity to face Israel's aggression and preserve civil peace", Fadlallah said in a statement.
"What the enemy has been unable to do on the ground... it will not obtain in negotiations with an authority that lacks decision-making power, has abandoned its most basic duties, has failed to protect its people and cannot be trusted to safeguard national sovereignty," he added.
A statement from President Joseph Aoun's office said that a telephone call was held on Friday between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, who was also in the American city.
"During the call, it was agreed to hold the first meeting next Tuesday at the State Department to discuss declaring a ceasefire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under U.S. auspices," the presidency statement said.
Protests
Aoun had repeatedly expressed readiness for direct talks with Israel since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran, sparking massive Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.
After a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran this week, the two sides have been at odds over whether it also applies to Lebanon, as Israel has kept up heavy strikes on the country and Hezbollah has responded with its own attacks.
But after Aoun's announcement, Israeli ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said his country "agreed to begin formal peace negotiations" with the Lebanese government, with which it has no diplomatic relations.
"Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries," Leiter said in a statement.
A Lebanese government official told AFP on Thursday that Lebanon wants a ceasefire before starting any negotiations with Israel.
On Friday, dozens of Hezbollah supporters, some brandishing the group's flag or that of Iran, demonstrated outside the government headquarters and other parts of Beirut.
