At least eighteen people are dead and thirty-three wounded after Israeli forces struck eleven towns and villages across southern Lebanon overnight, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. The count stood at sixteen an hour before we published, it will likely be higher by the time you read this, that is the nature of a toll taken in the dark.

The strikes came one day after a deal signed between the USA and Iran came into effect.The agreement also calls for peace in Lebanon, however, Israel never stopped striking, with attacks ramping up last night. Israeli leaders had already signalled a desire to sabotage the agreement, with the attacks being a clear example of them following through with their plans.

The Israeli military says it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley in response to what it calls repeated violations of the ceasefire. Overnight, Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers, a tank crew and their battalion commander, when a drone or anti-tank missile struck their tank in Kfar Tebnit. Kfar Tebnit is not in Israel. It is a village in Lebanon, one the Israeli army has spent days pushing into. The men who fired were resisting an armored column advancing on their own ground.