The Israeli military currently lacks an effective defense against Hezbollah’s explosive drones guided by fiber-optic cables, according to a report by The Times of Israel.

On Sunday, a small First-Person View (FPV) drone targeted Israeli soldiers in the southern border town of Taybeh, killing one soldier and wounding six others, four of them seriously. As a medical helicopter arrived to evacuate the casualties, two additional drones struck the site.

Israel's top diplomat on Tuesday said Israel was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military presses operations in the south despite a ceasefire.

"Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence in the areas by our northern border serves one purpose: protecting our citizens," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a joint news conference with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric.

Hezbollah's military operations in south Lebanon have declined due to the Lebanese Army measures and the group's loss of freedom of maneuver, a Lebanese military source told Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel.

Israel's army released a video Tuesday of troops detonating the stadium of Bint Jbeil — a symbolic site where Hezbollah’s former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, delivered his 2000 Liberation speech following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

Israeli forces have been burning and destroying houses and buildings in southern border towns including Bint Jbeil, Khiam, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, and Shamaa.

Everything is "at a standstill, and no discussions are taking place until a ceasefire is achieved, for which we have done everything possible," Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly told his ministers that there is nothing more that he can do in Lebanon.

"This is what Washington wants," Israel's public radio quoted the PM as saying.

The head of Israel's Mossad has praised the spy agency's "groundbreaking" operations in the war against Iran and Hezbollah, saying it acquired intelligence "from the heart of the enemy's secrets".

"In the campaigns against Iran and Hezbollah, we worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the IDF, on both defense and offence," David Barnea said, referring to the Israeli military.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted Tuesday on the X platform segments of an interview in which he told Fox News that "The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is very unique" because "Lebanon and Israel are not at war."

"Israel’s problem is with Hezbollah. Unfortunately, Hezbollah happens to be inside of Lebanon conducting attacks against Israel," Rubio said in the interview.

Typically, around 100,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews would gather next week on Mount Meron in northern Israel to celebrate the Lag BaOmer holiday.

However, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the large festival will replaced with a smaller symbolic ceremony, citing concerns about the gathering being attacked by Hezbollah. Similar restrictions were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous wars.

The Israeli army ordered Tuesday the residents of 16 villages south of the Litani river to immediately evacuate and head northwards, as Israel expanded strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire.

The warning included the villages of Ghandourieh, Burj Qalaway, Qalaway, Sawaneh, Jmayjmeh, Safad al-Battikh, Baraashit, Shaqra, Aita al-Jabal, Tebnine, Sultanieh, Bir al-Salasel, Kfardounine, Kherbet Selem, Selaa, and Deirkifa.