Israel and Hezbollah agree to a ceasefire as deadly fighting threatens U.S.-Iran agreement

By — Liz Landers Liz Landers By — Winston Wilde Winston Wilde Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/israel-and-hezbollah-agree-to-a-ceasefire-as-deadly-fighting-threatens-u-s-iran-agreement Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Heavy overnight fighting in southern Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants threatened to derail the initial U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war. But a last-ditch effort to secure another ceasefire succeeded, for now, and the Americans and Iranians plan to meet soon to begin to hammer out a longer-term accord. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: Welcome to the "News Hour." Heavy overnight fighting in Southern Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants threatened today to derail the initial U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war. But a last-ditch effort to secure another cease-fire succeeded, for now. And the Americans and Iranians plan to meet soon to begin to hammer out a longer-term accord. Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, starts off our coverage again tonight. Liz Landers: From dusk until dawn, Israeli missiles rained down on more than 100 targets, rocking Southern Lebanon and clouding the horizon with smoke, more city blocks reduced to rubble. Lebanese health officials reported nearly 50 people killed. They did not say how many were militants. The strikes appeared to be the last shots against Hezbollah before a commitment to calm. A U.S. official confirms to the "News Hour" that Israel and the Iran-backed militant group agreed to a conditional cease-fire facilitated by Qatar and the U.S. But Israel says that it's keeping its forces inside Lebanon and, after reasserting its right to self-defense, appeared to hit Hezbollah after the cease-fire began. Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, Israeli Defense Forces Spokesperson (through interpreter): We are maintaining a forward defensive presence as long as there's a threat. As long as Hezbollah remains a threat, we will remain forward-positioned. Liz Landers: Israel says its latest strikes were to avenge four of its soldiers who they say were killed in a Hezbollah attack inside Lebanon. Israel's ramped-up fighting in Lebanon and its rhetoric has threatened to unravel a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. Both Washington and Tehran reached an agreement to stop the war on -- quote -- "all fronts, including in Lebanon." A war of words spilled out across social media earlier today. Israel's hard-line national security minister, himself convicted of terror offenses in Israeli court, wrote -- quote -- "With all due respect to the Americans, the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit. All of Lebanon must burn." Iran's top diplomat replied, calling the Israeli government a -- quote -- "genoci