Israel ⁠and Hezbollah ​agreed to a ceasefire in ​Lebanon on Friday, a ‌US official said, after an escalation ​in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a ⁠lasting Middle East peace deal.

The ⁠senior US official ​said shortly before ‌4pm Lebanon time (1300 GMT) that a ceasefire would come into effect then. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire,” the official said on background, saying that negotiators for the US and Qataris ⁠worked out the agreement with help from Iran.

The ceasefire announcement came after several Israeli attacks killed at least 31 people in Lebanon since early Friday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

US-Iran talks in Switzerland planned for ‌Friday were cancelled as fighting flared in Lebanon, creating new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations vital to ensure the reopening of the Strait ⁠of Hormuz to global shipping.A senior Hezbollah lawmaker said Iran had told the group that talks with the US could not continue without a comprehensive ceasefire.

Iran’s ​foreign ministry spokesperson did not mention the talks but said the US bore direct responsibility for Israeli attacks on Lebanon and that Tehran would take all necessary measures ​to protect its interests.

Lebanon says 31 killed in strikes, Israel reports deaths of 4 soldiers

Fighting flared in Lebanon on Friday, with authorities reporting 31 killed in Israeli airstrikes across the south and Israel announcing the deaths of four of its soldiers.

The violence is the worst since the sealing of a US-Iran deal to halt the wider Middle East war, which was supposed to also pause the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel’s military said it hit scores of targets overnight and into the morning. “The IDF (military) struck more than 80 command centres, terrorists, launch positions, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area of Nabatieh and additional areas in southern Lebanon,” an army statement said.

“Furthermore, during the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists operating in the command centres were eliminated.”

Iran-backed Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it was attacking Israeli forces around the southern town of Nabatieh.

Other Israeli strikes targeted the Baalbek region in the east of the country, which had been largely spared since the start of the conflict on March 2.

Israel said its strikes in Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley were in response to “repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah”, which it said “continues to prepare and carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers”.

Earlier, its military announced that Lieutenant Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon had “fallen in combat” along with three other soldiers whom it did not immediately identify.

A military official said the incident involved an impact from “a suspicious target” on an Israeli tank, with Israeli military correspondents reporting it had been hit by “a suspected drone or anti-tank missile”.

In a separate statement the military also reported that a reserve officer was severely wounded “as a result of an explosive drone impact in southern Lebanon”, with four other soldiers lightly injured.

US officials, including President Donald Trump have expressed frustration at Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, which it has pursued in spite of Washington’s negotiations with Tehran and a separate ceasefire agreed in April that was meant to halt the fighting there.

Hezbollah said early Friday that it had targeted Israeli troops “with a barrage of rockets and mortar shells” near the Ali al-Taher hills, a strategic feature overlooking Nabatieh.

It had also reported attacking Israeli tanks, saying forces “consisting of an armoured platoon and an infantry platoon (tried) to infiltrate towards the northern side of the Ali al-Taher hills”. “The clashes are still ongoing,” it said.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in early March by attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli military campaign.

Israel retaliated with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south, which borders Israel and has long been under Hezbollah’s sway.

Netanyahu says Israeli army will stay in Lebanon ‘as long as necessary’

Israeli troops will stay in Lebanon “as long as necessary”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, vowing to make Iran-backed Hezbollah pay a “heavy price” for its attacks.

“Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks,” Netanyahu said in a statement after the military announced the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. “Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary for the protection of the communities of the north.”

Defence Minister Israel Katz had also said the military would stay in Lebanon, adding it would respond “with considerable force” to any attack.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday that “all of Lebanon must burn” after Israel’s military announced the deaths of four soldiers there.

The Israeli losses were the first to be announced since a US-Iran deal was signed to end the Middle East war.

The agreement was also supposed to halt the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Washington has expressed frustration at Israel’s ongoing campaign there.

“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn,” Ben Gvir said in a statement.

“For every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” he added. “In the Near East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint.”

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel must “go wild. Eradicate. Defeat terrorism.” “We must let fire speak… and open the gates of hell,” he added, without explicitly mentioning Lebanon.

The US-Iran agreement has been widely perceived in Israel as detrimental to its interests, signalling a failure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to force US President Donald Trump to take account of Israeli security demands.

Netanyahu is under pressure ahead of elections due to be held by the end of October.

According to a poll published Friday by the newspaper Maariv, 63 percent of Israelis are “worried” about the future of Israel following the deal.

Avigdor Lieberman, head of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu opposition party, called on Friday for a “heavy price” to be exacted in Lebanon “from which the other side will never recover”.

If Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, “are still standing, this is a direct failure of the prime minister and the defence minister”, he wrote on X.