The dust has barely settled in Tyre after weeks of Israeli airstrikes on the ancient city along Lebanon's Mediterranean coast.

Despite the relative calm, life remains largely at a standstill.

Mourners gathered Sunday in Beirut to pay their respects to a much-loved Lebanese conservationist who died after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on her home on the country's southern coast.

Mona Khalil, who spent more than two decades protecting sea turtles along Lebanon's coastline, was critically injured in the strike on her home in the village of Mansouri earlier this month and died of her wounds Friday. She was 76.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News that a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon cannot be reached if Iran is “trying to squeeze themselves into this conflict” via the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Some south Lebanon residents cautiously headed back to their hometowns on Sunday after fighting paused between Israel and Hezbollah the previous evening, even as Lebanon's army warned locals to delay returns.

Israel's military chief said on Sunday that Hezbollah had suffered a severe blow fighting Israeli forces and was now in a "very difficult position", as he met with troops in southern Lebanon.

He spoke as the United States and Iran held talks in Switzerland after signing a preliminary agreement to end the broader Middle East war, with the conflict in Lebanon threatening to derail the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon "as long as necessary", while also vowing to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"We will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to protect the cherished residents of the north and all the citizens of Israel... Nothing will alter that commitment," Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday rejected any Israeli security zone in Lebanon, after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed his troops would remain in the country's south for as long as necessary.

Israeli troops "remaining on Lebanese land is impossible. There are no security zones for Israel... we have a national army which deploys, and it is responsible for preserving sovereignty, and it is who we cooperate with," Qassem said in a televised address, adding that "Israel is an aggressor and must leave."

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday in a surprising statement that "Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble," apparently referring to Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Iran said on Sunday that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah will top the agenda in talks with the United States in Switzerland, as well as issues such as frozen Iranian funds and the sale of the country's oil.

The Israeli military said that one of its soldiers was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on Saturday, marking the fifth such fatality since a U.S.-Iran deal was reached to end the Middle East war.