According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least three individuals lost their lives and seven others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs early this morning, further straining the tenuous four-month ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
This assault occurred just days after a prior strike by Israel on the same southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold for Hezbollah known as the Dahiyeh.
Hezbollah has yet to release a statement regarding the specific target of the strike.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the most recent Israeli airstrike, labeling it a “dangerous warning” that reflects intentional aggression toward Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also criticized the Israeli strike, asserting that it constitutes a blatant violation of UN Resolution 1701 and the ceasefire agreement.
He mentioned that he has been closely monitoring the aftermath of the airstrike in collaboration with the defense and interior ministers.
Rescue workers arrived at the scene in ambulances to assist at the site of the damaged building.
According to a Reuters reporter on location, the strike appeared to have affected the upper three floors of a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, with those floors’ balconies completely blown out.
The glass on the lower floors remained intact, suggesting it was a focused strike. Ambulances were present to help evacuate casualties.
No evacuation warning had been issued prior to the strike, leading families to flee to other parts of Beirut in its aftermath, as per witness accounts.
The ceasefire agreement reached last November ended a year of conflict and required that southern Lebanon be devoid of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, that Lebanese troops be deployed in the area, and that Israeli ground troops withdraw from the territory. However, both sides accuse one another of failing to fully adhere to these stipulations.
The truce, brokered by the US, has appeared increasingly fragile in recent times. Israel postponed a promised troop withdrawal in January and claimed to have intercepted rockets fired from Lebanon in March, which prompted its bombardment of targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah, aligned with Iran, has denied any involvement in the rocket launches.
Today, the US State Department stated that Israel was acting in self-defense against rocket attacks originating from Lebanon, attributing the resumption of hostilities to “terrorists.”
“Hostilities have resumed because terrorists launched rockets into Israel from Lebanon,” a spokesperson from the US State Department said in an email, emphasizing that Washington supports Israel’s military response.
The ongoing Israeli-Lebanese conflict, which has resulted in thousands of fatalities, was reignited by the Gaza war in 2023 when Hezbollah commenced firing rockets at Israeli military positions in support of its ally, Hamas.
The Gaza war, which Palestinian health authorities claim has resulted in over 50,000 deaths, was initiated when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 individuals and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
