While discussion of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon Sunday primarily focused on a deadly attack on the capital city of Beirut, the IDF continued to carry out operations across southern Lebanon as well, and continuing to try to force the population out of the area.
The IDF issued two distinct statements on Sunday ordering people living in southern villages, 13 in the first statement and 16 in the second one, to flee their homes and move north of the Zahrani River.
Several of the villages were ordered evacuated for the first time during the war, as many lie north of the Litani River, which was meant to be the deepest the IDF was going during this invasion. More than 20 other towns in and around Nabatieh were ordered evacuated on Saturday.
Rubble lies around damaged building at the site of an Israeli strike in Tyre, Lebanon, May 28, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
In addition to the deaths of three in metro Beirut attacks, others were reported killed over the weekend in attacks on southern Lebanon, including one slain in a strike on the city of Sidon. Lebanon’s Health Ministry put the death toll of the Israeli war at 3,783 killed and 11,699 wounded since the invasion began in early March.
IDF officials claimed a person they killed on Friday, Ali Mussa Daqduq, was actually a “senior” commander within Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Hezbollah has yet to confirm such a loss, but the sheer volume of senior Radwan commanders reported slain over the course of Israeli attacks belies the long-standing believe the organization was quite small and selective.
Israeli security sources were quoted over the weekend saying that, irrespective of any US-Iran peace deal that might be negotiated, they intend to keep ground troops inside Lebanon. That suggests that speculation that the peace deal was conditioned on ending the Lebanon occupation is running into more challenges.
