Two rockets, suspected Hezbollah drone shot down over Galilee Panhandle, morning after Home Front Command eases restrictions
By Emanuel Fabian
Diana Bletter
Nava Freiberg and Agencies
3 June 2026, 3:03 pm Updated at 3:40 pm
Lebanese soldiers and first responders inspect the site of an Israeli drone strike that reportedly killed the passengers of a vehicle on the Khalde highway at the southern entrance to Beirut on June 3, 2026. (FADEL itani / AFP)
Lebanese media reported on Wednesday that an Israeli strike hit a car on a highway just south of the capital, Beirut, as the Hezbollah terror group continued its attacks on Israeli troops and civilians despite a nominal ceasefire.
An apparent Hezbollah drone and two rockets fired by the terror group at northern Israel’s Galilee Panhandle on Wednesday were intercepted by air defenses, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Israeli leaders have threatened that the IDF would target Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, if the Iran-backed terror group targets Israeli communities.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike that hit a car on a highway near the town of in the town of Khalde, at the capital’s southern entrance.
Additionally, two vehicles were reportedly targeted in the southern Lebanese town of Deir ez-Zahrani, including one belonging to the Lebanese army. The strike on the Lebanese military vehicle wounded an officer and a soldier, the Lebanese Armed Forces says in a statement.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Editionby email and never miss our top storiesNewsletter email addressGet it
By signing up, you agree to the terms
Israel has said it is only targeting the Hezbollah terror group and not the Lebanese army, despite IDF strikes occasionally hitting members of the LAF amid the fighting.
The IDF has not commented on the latest strike that wounded the two Lebanese soldiers, nor on a similar strike yesterday in the same area that wounded two other Lebanese soldiers.
The state-run National News Agency reported strikes on around 20 locations in the country’s south on Wednesday, including some after the IDF issued evacuation warnings.
Meanwhile, a medical source in south Lebanon’s Tyre told AFP that two Israeli strikes on the Al-Hawsh area near the coastal city killed six people — four Syrian nationals and two Palestinians.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for six villages and towns in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.
Residents of Arzay, Mazraat Kauthariyet al-Rez, and Zrariyeh were instructed to evacuate and head north of the Zahrani River, and residents of Jbaa, Houmine al-Faouqa, and Arkey were instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warned army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
IDF intercepts two rockets, suspected drone launched at north
Meanwhile, a suspected Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses over the Kiryat Shmona area late Wednesday morning.
The drone and concern of falling shrapnel following the interception triggered sirens in the northern city and nearby communities.
Hours later, two rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the nearby border community of Misgav Am were intercepted by air defenses, the military said.
No injuries were reported in the attacks.
The IDF Home Front Command had announced on Tuesday evening that it would ease safety restrictions in communities along the northern border.
The Galilee Medical Center in the northern coastal town of Nahariya announced that, in light of the changing security situation, the hospital was “once again returning aboveground.”
The hospital staff had brought all the inpatient wards to the hospital’s protected areas on Saturday, as a security measure amid the Hezbollah attacks.
A new round of talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors was held in Washington on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said he had received commitments of de-escalation from both Jerusalem and Hezbollah.
It was the fourth round of talks to be held by diplomatic representatives of the two countries, which do not have ties and have been in a state of war since 1948. They were held at the State Department and were set to continue on Wednesday.
Trump confirms calling PM ‘f***ing crazy’
In an interview aired Wednesday, Trump confirmed that he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fucking crazy” during a Monday phone call about Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump told podcast host Miranda Devine, while noting, “I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” he said, during an hourlong interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast.
Trump’s explicit outrage at Netanyahu was first reported on Monday by Axios, and later denied by Israeli officials, including one who spoke with The Times of Israel.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the US and Israel attacked its main backer, Iran.
Since then, 26 IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon, 14 of them since a ceasefire was declared on April 16. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military has said that it has killed over 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since early March.
About The Author
