JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike on Saturday targeting suspected militants in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon, the first such attack since Washington announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
On Friday, Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a trilateral agreement aimed at paving the way for a broader peace deal between the two Middle East nations.
An Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP that Saturday's airstrike targeted "suspected terrorists who posted a threat to IDF soldiers" in the Nabatieh area.
"The results of the strike are still being assessed."
Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, where its troops occupy swathes of territory and have been carrying out extensive demolitions of homes and other buildings.
Friday's US-brokered agreement followed five rounds of negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese officials aimed at ending the fighting.
The deal "begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony.
"It's the beginning of the beginning. There's a lot of work ahead."
According to the text of the agreement, Israel and Lebanon "declare their intent to conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them."
Lebanon does not recognise Israel and the two have officially been at war for decades, although Israel has largely fought Hezbollah and other non-state actors in its conflicts in Lebanon.
Despite the agreement, major differences remain between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has rejected the deal and repeatedly insisted that Israeli forces must fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said late on Friday that the agreement allowed Israeli troops to remain in the so-called "security zone" in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah was disarmed.
He said the Israeli military would also allow the Lebanese army to take control of territory in two areas -- one outside the security zone and south of the Litani River, while the other is north of the Litani.
Netanyahu added that Lebanese civilians displaced from the security zone won't be allowed to return home.
In the agreement signed on Friday, Israel says its military actions in Lebanon "are solely a consequence of the attacks, threat posed by, and hostile intent of non-state armed groups, particularly Hezbollah."
"Termination of this threat," notably through disarmament of such non-state groups and "additional security arrangements to be agreed upon between the two countries," will eliminate any future necessity for IDF military action or presence in Lebanon, it says.
It also stressed that "the Government of Israel declares that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon."