2 days ago
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Israel has conducted an airstrike on Beirut for the first time since signing a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Huge smoke plumes rose from the site of the attack in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh and residents reported hearing the explosion from the mountains surrounding the Lebanese capital.
The strike threatens to upset the fragile truce in place between Hezbollah and Israel since a ceasefire was signed on 27 November last year.
Before the bombing, Israeli’s military issued an evacuation order and warned it would attack a building in Dahiyeh. A spokesperson posted a map on X, with a building marked in red and warned residents to flee more than 300 metres away, reminiscent of the daily maps the Israeli military would issue before bombings during the its war with Hezbollah.
“You are present near facilities belonging to Hezbollah,” the spokesperson warned, pointing to a building near two schools in Dahiyeh. The warning was followed by two “roof knocking” drone strikes.
An Israeli military spokesperson later said the airstrike targeted a truck and Hezbollah drone storage facility.
The warning caused residents of Dahiyeh to flee, with people shooting in the air to warn those who had not seen the announcement on social media. Videos showed residents taking shelter on pavements in central Beirut.
Earlier in the morning, Israel announced it had intercepted two rockets coming from Lebanon, the second time in a week that rocket fire was directed towards it. No one claimed responsibility for Friday’s rocket fire, and Hezbollah issued no statement.
Israel conducted several airstrikes in southern Lebanon before the evacuation warning in Beirut on Friday. Lebanon announced the closure of schools in the south in fear of further strikes.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said: “If calm does not prevail in the Galilee towns, there will be no calm in Beirut … We will not allow a return to the situation before October 7.”
It is unclear how Hezbollah will respond to a strike on Dahiyeh, where the group enjoys large public support. Hezbollah claims its role is to protect Lebanon from the Israeli military, so a strike near the country’s capital could form a challenge to the basis of its legitimacy.
There has been no resumption of major hostilities since the ceasefire began in November, despite Israel conducting hundreds of strikes in Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for one strike in Israel a few days after the signing of the ceasefire.
The ceasefire brought an end to more than 13 months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which killed more than 3,900 people and displaced about 1 million in Lebanon. Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, has stressed his commitment to the ceasefire deal and reiterated that the decision for Lebanon to go to war lay with the state, not with Hezbollah.
The new Lebanese government, elected after the signing of the ceasefire, has made disarming the non-state militia a priority.
