BEIRUT, April 9 — Israel renewed its strikes in south Lebanon on Wednesday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the Iran war truce does not include Lebanon.

The strikes came despite Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel on March 2, not claiming any operations since 1am (Tuesday 2200 GMT).

Israel renewed an evacuation order for an area more than 40 kilometres inside Lebanon, saying “the battle in Lebanon is ongoing”.

It followed another warning to evacuate a building in the southern Tyre region, which Israel then struck, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

NNA reported several strikes across the south.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has acted as a mediator in the conflict, said the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States applied “everywhere including Lebanon”, but Netanyahu later said the country was excluded.

A Lebanese official told AFP that authorities “have not been informed” of Lebanon being included.

French President Emmanuel Macron, welcoming the ceasefire, said “our wish is to ensure that the ceasefire fully includes Lebanon”.

Israel’s attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 1,500 people and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities, especially in the country’s south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs, areas where Hezbollah holds sway.

On Wednesday an AFP correspondent in southern Lebanon saw small numbers of people heading south, some in cars and others carrying their children on motorcycles.

But Lebanon’s military warned displaced people against returning south “since they may be exposing themselves to the ongoing Israeli attacks”.

Another correspondent in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been heavily struck by Israel, said the area remained deserted.

“We are waiting for Hezbollah to issue an official statement” before returning home, Ali Youssef, a 50-year-old delivery worker staying in a tent near the suburbs, told AFP.

Youssef said he was confident that “Iran will not let us down” if Israel keeps attacking Lebanon.

Shortly before the ceasefire announcement, an Israeli strike on the southern city of Sidon killed eight people. — AFP