Friday morning’s attacks by Israel on Lebanon killed so many people they ended up postponing the US-Iran peace deal signing in Geneva, and the US and Qatar scrambled to announce Israel had agreed to yet another “ceasefire” with Hezbollah.
The problem underpinning this was that Israel had already agreed to multiple ceasefires, and there was already one in place Friday morning when they killed in excess of 40 people. It should come as little surprise, then, that the latest “ceasefire” doesn’t seem to have even slowed down the Israeli slaughter, as heavy attacks continued throughout the night and into Saturday.
After 47 killed and 93 wounded on Friday, the latest reports out of Lebanon have 38 more killed and scores more wounded on Saturday, bringing the toll since Friday morning to at least 85 Lebanese killed and well over 100 wounded.
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Friday’s attacks were overwhelmingly centered on the Nabatieh District, and that continued to be among the targets Saturday, with an additional 16 killed there. But the heaviest attacks seem to have been further east, with the Lebanese military reporting wide areas of strikes “all the way to the Bekaa Valley,” causing many casualties and substantial damage to the areas struck.
Further to the west, multiple attacks on villages in the Tyre District killed at least five, with the largest strike in the village of Barish, and north of there the town of Qennarit was attacked, killing nine people and wounding 22.
Israel claimed that its Friday attacks hit in excess of 150 “Hezbollah targets” and that more than 80 “command centers” were hit. As usual this didn’t come with any offer of evidence to that effect, and indeed substantial numbers of civilians appear to be among the slain, including women and children. Saturday’s victims similarly include multiple children and at least one member of the Lebanese military.
Israeli military officials said they will continue to “do whatever is necessary.” Indications are that comes with a substantial body count, and a long list of ceasefires that aren’t actually ceasing, or indeed visibly slowing, the rate of Israeli fire.
