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Israel attacked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday for the first time since a November ceasefire ended his war with the militant hizbollah group, as hostilities were mounted throughout the region after Israel’s resumption of his offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli army carried out a large strike in a building on the southern suburbs of Beiru, which he said was a drone preservation structure used by Hizbollah backed by Iran.
A loud boom echoed over the capital, with a smoke pillar rising from the area, large tracts of which had been reduced to ruins by Israeli air strikes during the peak of war last fall.
It was preceded by a warning by the Israeli army to evacuate the area after threatening revenge for two shells launched from the Lebanese territory earlier on Friday. One of them was tapped, while the other shell fell in Lebanon, the Israeli army said.
The Israeli army also said it hit the goals of Hizbollah in the south of Lebanon on Friday, after the began of shells. One strike killed at least three people, including a woman, and injured 18 others, including women and children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Rockets from Lebanon imposed sirens of air attack on several Israeli border communities. Israeli Defense Minister Israeli Katz warned that “if there is no peace in Kiryat Shmona and Galilee communities (in northern Israel), there will be no peace in Beirut”.
Katz added that “the Lebanese government bears direct responsibility” for Friday’s attack.
Lebanese armed forces said he had identified the missile starting site and was investigating. Hizbollah denied hunting missiles, accusing Israel of seeking a pretext to continue his attacks on Lebanon.
Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the strike “a dangerous escalation”. French President Emmanuel Macron, who was meeting his Lebanese counterpart in Paris on Friday, called them “unjustified” strikes and said he would call on US President Donald Trump to discuss them.
The escalation came after Israel ended this month a special ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza launching a series of air strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians, according to local officials, and resumed ground operations in the shredded enclaves. Had previously banned shipments of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to the enclave.
It also came after renovated US attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen last week, following the group’s threats to resume attacks on the Red Sea transport lanes, increasing the fear that the region was slipping towards full conflict. Houthis launched a number of attacks on the Red Sea last year, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Israeli evacuation warning to Southern Beirut sent residents of the area with dense population fleeing as traffic blocked the roads.
There was a deadly Israeli air strike in South Lebanon last Saturday, which killed eight people according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, launched in response to missiles fired from Lebanese territory.
Israel mounted wild air and land attack against Hizbollah after the Iran -backed movement was shot towards Israel following Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 by Gaza.
More than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon and more than 140 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed in fighting, which also moved more than 1 million people to Lebanon and 60,000 to Israel.
Under the conditions of the JB mediated ceasefire, which stopped for 13 months of fighting, Hizbollah agreed to relocate its weapons from Southern Lebanon, Israeli troops would be completely withdrawn from the southern Lebanon and the LAF would move inside.
But Israeli troops have remained in five “strategic” positions within Southern Lebanon, insisting it was part of the agreement. Each party has accused the other of failing to comply with the agreement in full, with the Israeli Air Force that continues to launch frequent air and drone attacks on what they say are hizbashk goals throughout Liban.
Additional reporting by James Shotter in Jerusalem and Mehul Srivastava in London
