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On Friday, Israel launched an attack on Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, marking the first such action since a ceasefire was established in November, which ended its conflict with the militant group Hizbollah. This escalation follows Israel’s decision to renew its offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military conducted a significant strike on a building located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, asserting that it functioned as a drone storage facility used by Hizbollah, an organization backed by Iran.
A noticeable explosion reverberated over the capital, producing a column of smoke from the impacted area, parts of which had been previously reduced to rubble by Israeli airstrikes during the height of the conflict the previous autumn. Prior to the strike, Israel’s military issued a warning to evacuate the area, promising retaliation for two projectiles launched from Lebanese territory earlier that day. According to the military, one projectile was intercepted, while the other fell within Lebanon.
In addition to the incident in Beirut, Israel’s military reported targeting Hizbollah positions in southern Lebanon on the same day, following the earlier launch of projectiles. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, one of these strikes resulted in the deaths of at least three people, including a woman, and injuries to 18 others, among them women and children.
The rocket fire from Lebanon triggered air raid sirens across several Israeli border communities. Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, stated that if peace did not prevail in Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee communities in northern Israel, then there would be no peace in Beirut. Katz further emphasized that the Lebanese government held direct responsibility for the attack, and the Lebanese Armed Forces confirmed the identification of the rocket launch site as investigations commenced. Hizbollah, however, denied launching the rockets, accusing Israel of creating a pretext for ongoing assaults on Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the strike as a “dangerous escalation,” while French President Emmanuel Macron, during a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart in Paris, labeled the strikes as “unjustified” and declared his intention to discuss the situation with US President Donald Trump.
The tension escalated in the context of Israel’s recent termination of a separate ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, after which air strikes were launched, resulting in numerous Palestinian casualties and the resumption of ground operations in the heavily impacted enclave. During this period, Israel also halted the delivery of food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to the region. Furthermore, the escalation followed renewed US strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, subsequent to the group’s threats to continue attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea, raising concerns about the potential resurgence of regional conflict. Last year, the Houthis conducted numerous attacks in the Red Sea, declaring solidarity with Palestinians in response to Israel’s Gaza offensive.
Israel’s warning to the residents in southern Beirut prompted a mass evacuation, with people urgently leaving the densely populated area, causing significant street traffic congestion. This followed deadly Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon the previous Saturday, which, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, resulted in eight fatalities, as a reaction to rockets fired from Lebanese territory.
Israel’s aggressive air and ground campaign against Hizbollah followed the group’s offensive towards Israel after Hamas’s attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023. This conflict resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 people in Lebanon and more than 140 Israeli civilians and soldiers, also displacing over one million individuals in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel.
As part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement that brought an end to 13 months of fighting, Hizbollah consented to relocate its weapons from southern Lebanon, Israeli troops were expected to completely withdraw from the area, and the Lebanese Armed Forces were set to take on security roles. However, Israeli forces have maintained positions in five “strategic” locations within southern Lebanon, claiming this as part of the agreement. Both parties accuse each other of failing to fully implement the ceasefire terms, with frequent Israeli air and drone strikes allegedly targeting Hizbollah sites across Lebanon continuing.
This report included contributions from James Shotter in Jerusalem and Mehul Srivastava in London.