DUBAI/BEIRUT: Israel carried out an airstrike on the historic port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon on June 9, killing at least eight people. This escalation is putting more pressure on efforts to negotiate a peace deal to end the wider war in the Middle East.

A day earlier, Israel and Iran had stopped direct attacks on each other after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a halt. However, Iran warned it would restart attacks if Israel continued targeting its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The strikes were the deadliest in Tyre since fighting in Lebanon began in early March. The conflict started when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of Iran after Israel and the United States launched their war against Iran.

Israel had issued an evacuation warning for Tyre earlier on June 9. Residents fled the city, and civil defense teams moved elderly people to temporary shelters, according to state media. Lebanon's health ministry said the eight victims were killed in a single strike on the eastern edge of the city.

Israel's refusal to stop its military campaign in Lebanon, as Iran has demanded, has made it harder for Trump to extend the fragile ceasefire in the broader U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran into a lasting peace agreement.

In Tehran, two Iranian air defense personnel were buried on June 9 after being killed in Israeli strikes the previous day, according to Iran's military. No deaths were reported in Israel from Iranian attacks.

Oil prices, which had increased during the exchange of attacks between Israel and Iran, fell on June 9 after the fighting paused.

Iran has long said that any peace agreement with the United States depends partly on ending the fighting in Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon in March to target Hezbollah fighters who had launched cross-border attacks.

In northern Israel, Israeli troops operating near the Ramim Ridge area along the Lebanon border shot and killed one person after returning fire, the military said.

Israel has not stopped its operations in Lebanon, which have killed thousands, arguing that the conflict there should be treated separately from any ceasefire with Iran. Hezbollah has also continued its attacks.

At the same time, Iran has continued to block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which, before the war, handled about one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas. The United States has also imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.