Israeli strikes injured at least eight people in southern Lebanon on August 6, 2026, ending weeks of relative quiet under a ceasefire that began in June. A ceasefire is an agreement to stop fighting. The Israeli military ordered residents of the town of Mansouri to leave on August 5, its first such order in weeks. A strike also hit a home in Burj al-Shemali, hurting residents there for the first time since the ceasefire started. Al Jazeera

The new violence came after an explosive device killed two Israeli soldiers. No one knows for sure whether the device was planted before or after the June ceasefire began. Hezbollah, an armed group based in Lebanon, has not said it was responsible. Al Jazeera

While the fighting flared, diplomats were talking. Representatives from Lebanon and Israel met in Rome earlier that week for negotiations. Both governments had previously agreed to a framework, a step-by-step plan meant to get Israel to withdraw from Lebanon once Hezbollah gives up its weapons. The plan called for pilot zones, areas where Israel would pull back and the Lebanese army would take over to make sure no armed groups hold weapons, so displaced people could return home. As of August 6, Israel had not withdrawn from southern Lebanon in any significant way. Al Jazeera

Hezbollah is not part of the talks and has publicly rejected the plan. This creates a problem: the framework depends on Hezbollah giving up its weapons, but Hezbollah is not at the table to agree to that. Al Jazeera

The ceasefire has been shaky from the beginning. Israel said in early June 2026 that it would keep carrying out military operations in Lebanon despite the truce. Reuters Lebanon said Israel had launched nearly 3,500 air strikes and hundreds of controlled explosions since the ceasefire was announced. Reuters

The Lebanese army says ongoing Israeli attacks are making it hard to send troops to southern Lebanon. Anadolu Agency This matters because the framework plan relies on the Lebanese army to secure the areas Israel would leave.

The broader context is that the peace plan and the situation on the ground are pulling in opposite directions. The plan says Israel should withdraw and Hezbollah should disarm, but neither side is willing to move first. Israel says it will not withdraw without conditions, and Hezbollah has rejected the whole plan. Meanwhile, Israel's military spokesperson has continued telling southern Lebanese residents to evacuate, which keeps people displaced even though the plan is supposed to let them return. The New Humanitarian

Picture the plan as a chain: Israel will not pull back unless the Lebanese army moves in, and the Lebanese army cannot move in while Israeli strikes continue. The chain breaks at the very first link. And Hezbollah, sitting outside the negotiation, holds the power to accept or reject the disarmament step that the whole plan depends on.

Residents of southern Lebanon have spoken out in anger, with some questioning whether their officials were doing enough to stop the destruction during the talks. Al Jazeera A senior Lebanese official told Reuters in early June that talks in Washington would look at ways to strengthen the ceasefire, possibly through step-by-step approaches. Reuters

What happened on August 5 and 6 shows that the ceasefire did not stop the violence completely. It reduced how often and how widely strikes happen. The attacks on Burj al-Shemali and Mansouri, along with the unsolved explosion that killed two Israeli soldiers, show how a single incident can quickly grow into something larger, putting the talks in Rome at risk.