A “huge blast” from an Israeli strike has hit southern Lebanon just as an RT crew was preparing to go on air in Nabatieh province, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney has reported.

The explosion on Thursday was heard “very loudly across the region,” with a large cloud of smoke billowing from the nearby area. “We could hear it very loudly from where we are now,” Sweeney said, describing this part of southern Lebanon as having been “heavily targeted by Israel over the past few weeks” and subjected to daily bombardments and demolitions.

Villages along the ridgeline around Nabatieh have faced repeated air and drone strikes, with roads, vehicles, and other infrastructure among the targets, as local officials appeal for an end of the “Israeli aggression.”  

The latest strike came as Lebanon and Israel concluded a two‑day round of US‑brokered talks in Rome, where officials agreed on the structure and guidelines for withdrawing Israeli forces from two ‘pilot zones’ in southern Lebanon. The designated areas are intended to test a phased framework involving an Israeli pullout, the disarmament of Hezbollah units there, and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces.  

Lebanese MP Hassan Fadlallah has condemned the emerging arrangement as an “ill‑fated” agreement that “terminates Lebanon’s existence as an independent state” and “legitimizes the occupation and its criminal practices.” He warned that the proposed pilot areas would prevent the return of displaced people and reconstruction, and make Lebanese authorities “the enemy’s partner in every drop of blood it sheds and every home it destroys.”  

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, more than 4,300 people have been killed and over 12,000 wounded since the conflict escalated on March 2. The Israeli campaign against Hezbollah began days after the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran. While international attention is focused on whether the Rome talks can deliver a breakthrough, for many in southern Lebanon, peace “seems a very, very distant hope,” Sweeney said.

Watch the full report below.