Israeli military strikes in southern Lebanon in intense fighting as
US-Iran talks postponed
[June 19, 2026]
By ERIN CUNNINGHAM, DAVID RISING and JON GAMBRELL
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Friday its forces struck targets
throughout southern Lebanon overnight as Hezbollah reported intense
fighting in the area, threatening the nascent agreement between Iran and
the United States to end their war.
Talks planned for Friday in Switzerland between Iran and the United
States, which Vice President JD Vance had been scheduled to attend,
found themselves postponed as the fighting intensified. Mediators worked
to reschedule the meetings crucial for starting talks over a permanent
end to the Iran war, with much of the attention focused on Lebanon,
regional officials said.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Lebanon rose sharply. Lebanon’s state-run
National News Agency reported at least 18 people were killed in Israeli
airstrikes, which the Israeli military said were ongoing. Israel,
meantime, said four of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in
southern Lebanon, including a lieutenant colonel. An explosive drone
attack hurt another five, it added.
The Israeli military also said it struck targets in Lebanon's eastern
Bekaa Valley on Friday, with Lebanese media saying the village of Douris
was hit.
Continued fighting in Lebanon could unravel the newly signed deal, which
calls for an immediate halt to military operations “on all fronts,
including in Lebanon,” where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed
Hezbollah militant group, and for ensuring Lebanon’s “territorial
integrity and sovereignty.”
The deal aims to end the war and has reopened the Strait of Hormuz to
international shipping, while bringing the U.S. and Iran back to the
negotiating table over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran's stranglehold on
the strait had all but stopped the flow of oil through the key waterway.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he signed the agreement to avoid
“economic catastrophe” in the U.S., after the war caused oil prices to
skyrocket, made financial markets skittish and fueled inflation. After
the signing of the agreement, more than 12.5 million barrels of oil were
shipped through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night, the U.S. said.
US and Israel at odds over conflict in Lebanon
Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists
Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is
occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly
require that.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later
this year, has refused to withdraw. He said Thursday that Israeli forces
will remain in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as
“Israel’s security needs require it.”
Trump, meantime, has been openly critical of Netanyahu's recent moves,
saying the day before the agreement with Iran was signed that “without
the U.S. there would be no Israel.”
“Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president was
willing to do what I did — I have had a great relationship with Bibi,”
Trump said, using a nickname for Netanyahu. "Now Bibi has to be more
responsible with respect to Lebanon.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, came to Israel's defense
on Friday, however, noting the deaths of the four Israeli soldiers in a
post on X.
“Israel strikes when struck ...” he wrote. “Ceasefire happens when
Hezbollah stops shooting & killing.”
The renewed Israeli attacks in Lebanon came as planned talks in
Switzerland between Iran and the United States over their efforts to
reach a permanent end to the Iran war were delayed.
Vance delays trip to Switzerland as talks postponed
U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday put off his trip to Switzerland
where he had been set to lead the talks. The White House blamed
logistical issues.
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A girl looks toward what residents said was an Israeli drone flying
overhead as a boy checks his family's water storage tank in Halta,
southern Lebanon, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two regional officials, speaking to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, said
mediators were focused on calming the fighting in Lebanon. One said
Iran pulled out of the Switzerland meeting specifically over the
fighting and Netanyahu's comments, describing them as violating the
interim deal between Iran and the U.S.
Two other regional officials, similarly speaking on condition of
anonymity for the same reason, described Pakistan as being “stunned”
by Iran's decision not to go to the talks Friday.
Those discussions in Switzerland were to shift the conversation
toward sanctions relief, maritime security, nuclear-related
measures, verification, sequencing and regional assurances, one of
the officials said. Those are key to ensuring a final deal between
Iran and the U.S. be reached.
Following the signing of the interim deal, the U.S. said it had
lifted its blockade, allowing oil tankers to begin freely moving
through the Strait of Hormuz after months of being unable to use the
critical channel. Still, the tentative agreement has drawn sharp
criticism from some in the U.S. — including a few congressional
Republicans — who worry Washington ceded too much to Iran with
relief from sanctions and a potential $300 billion fund to help with
rebuilding.
In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei seemed to endorse
direct negotiations, saying in a statement on state media that “it
is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in
the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion.”
It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement, and it was
interpreted as a shift in Iran’s approach. Hard-liners, especially
Khamenei’s father, the previous supreme leader, have long opposed
direct talks, especially after the U.S. pulled out of the 2015
nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
The supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was wounded
in a strike at the start of the war.
US defends deal with Iran
Vance, who was initially personally skeptical of the U.S. going to
war with Iran, has increasingly become the administration’s face of
the conflict and has been outspoken in defending the deal.
On Thursday, he took the relatively unusual step of appearing at the
White House to defend the initial deal to extend the ceasefire 60
days and allow for more negotiating — arguing that while it offers
concessions, Iran first has to comply with U.S. demands.
Vance also offered a blunt warning to Israel, saying Trump was “the
only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the
nation of Israel at this moment in time.”
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Rising
reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in
Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed
to this story.
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