Israel bombs key Lebanese bridge amid reports of Netanyahu-Aoun talks

BEIRUT - The Israeli military has destroyed the last remaining parts of a bridge connecting southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, Lebanese security sources and state media said on Thursday, amid reports of planned talks between the two countries' leaders.

Israeli fighter jets completely destroyed the Qasmiyah Bridge, the state news agency NNA reported. This effectively cuts off the area south of the Litani River from the rest of the country and isolates the region.

An Israeli military spokesman said the air force did not attack the bridge itself, but targeted an area next to it.

Since the resumption of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in early March, many people have fled attacks in southern Lebanon, traveling north to the capital, Beirut.

A journey to the coastal city of Tyre can now take more than one day, instead of two hours, because of diversions to avoid the destroyed bridge. Aid supplies for the south also arrive primarily by truck from the north.

Israel attacked other targets in other parts of the country, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

In the southern city of Bint Jubeil, a Hezbollah hotbed, fierce fighting continued as Israeli troops moved to take control of the whole city.

The attacks came amid reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to speak by telephone with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday.

Gila Gamliel, Israel's minister for innovation, science and technology, made the announcement on Israeli army radio on Thursday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that "leaders" from both countries would hold talks.

The call on Thursday would be the first known telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Aoun. According to Trump, the talks would be the first between Israeli and Lebanese leaders for 34 years.

However, sources in the Lebanese president's office said they had no information regarding a conversation.

Trump said the aim was to create "a little breathing room" between the neighbouring countries, who held direct political talks in Washington on Tuesday for the first time in decades.

According to a statement from his office late on Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel had two central goals in the talks: "First, the disarming of Hezbollah, and second, a sustainable peace. Peace through strength."

The Lebanese government, which is not a party to the conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, is seeking a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Beirut lawmakers demand weapons-free zone

Meanwhile, in Beirut, lawmakers representing the Lebanese capital in parliament met on Thursday to voice support for the government as the country faces mounting political and security challenges.

The MPs endorsed a government decision to declare Beirut a weapons-free zone, stressing that the capital must remain a safe, state-controlled city.

They called for the removal of all non-state weapons, including those held by Hezbollah, and urged the deployment of the Lebanese Army to enhance security, particularly within the capital.

Lawmaker Nicolas Sehnaoui said the meeting comes at "a critical moment in Lebanon's history, where security risks intersect with social concerns, making our responsibility to protect our capital and preserve national unity even greater."

He added that Beirut "has never been an exclusive city or one owned by a single group, but a shared space for all Lebanese," stressing that any security approach must "reinforce unity, not division."

Edgar Traboulsi, another lawmaker, said Beirut "does not die," noting that despite wars and crises, the city has endured.

"What Beirut needs today is more than a conference to ensure it is free of illegal weapons," he said. "It needs the solidarity of all its people, without exclusion."

He called on the government to uphold sovereignty across the entire Lebanese territory and to resist internal and external pressures that could lead to harmful decisions.

"Lebanon's unity and internal peace must remain above all else," Traboulsi added.

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 6:56 AM.