An Israeli drone strike killed at least one person and seriously wounded another in the southern Lebanese village of Kfartebnit on Thursday, hours after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding meant to halt the Middle East war. The attack, which Lebanese state media said targeted a car near the so-called yellow line demarcating Israel’s newly declared security zone, was followed by a separate strike on the town of Haddatha. The Israeli military also confirmed that a soldier had been killed and seven others wounded in fighting in the south the previous night. Far from signalling a withdrawal, the Israel Defence Forces published a map of a buffer zone extending roughly 10 kilometres into Lebanese territory and said troops would continue to operate there — and beyond — to “remove threats” and “strengthen the defence of Israel’s northern residents.”

These actions unfolded against the backdrop of a diplomatic breakthrough announced on Monday and formalised on Wednesday, when the United States and Iran concluded a memorandum of understanding to end hostilities across the Middle East, including in Lebanon. The agreement has already produced a marked reduction in violence, but the latest incidents underscore its inherent fragility. Israel, which was not a party to the accord, has made clear that it does not consider itself bound by its terms. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a ceremony in northern Israel, insisted that the military would not withdraw from the security zone until Israel’s security requirements were fully met, a position that directly contradicts the understanding’s call for a cessation of all fighting.

Viewed from Washington, the deal with Tehran was a calculated gambit to de-escalate a conflict that has claimed nearly 3,900 lives and wounded more than 11,800 in Lebanon alone. Yet Israel’s defiance places the Biden administration in a difficult position, caught between its diplomatic achievement and its longstanding alliance with Jerusalem. In Beirut, officials and analysts see the drone strike and the declared security zone as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty that risks reigniting tensions with Hezbollah, even as the group has observed a relative calm since Monday. Iranian state media, reporting on a separate Israeli strike on a house in Yahoun that wounded two people, framed the attacks as evidence of Israel’s disregard for the nascent peace process.

The Israeli calculus, articulated by military spokesmen and Netanyahu, rests on the argument that threats to IDF soldiers and civilians persist beyond the self-declared zone, necessitating continued operations. This stance, however, creates a fundamental contradiction: the US-Iran memorandum envisages a comprehensive cessation of hostilities, while Israel insists on a unilateral right to act inside Lebanese territory. Analysts in London note that without a parallel mechanism to address Israel’s security concerns — perhaps through an expanded UNIFIL mandate or a separate bilateral understanding — the deal risks unravelling. For now, the sharp reduction in violence offers a tentative reprieve, but the drone strike and Israel’s defiant rhetoric suggest that the path from memorandum to durable peace remains perilously narrow.