Israel bombs Beirut in first strike since November ceasefire
The strike was in retaliation for rockets fired at northern Israel
Israel's air force conducted a heavy strike on a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, a Reuters witness says.
It was the first heavy bombardment there since a truce in November ended a war between Israel and the Lebanese military group Hezbollah.
The strike, which resounded across Beirut and produced a large column of black smoke, followed an evacuation order by the Israeli military for the neighbourhood and three smaller drone strikes on the building intended as warnings, security sources told Reuters.
In some parts of the south, gunshots could be heard warning people to leave their houses.
Many people were seen fleeing on foot or in cars.
Israel’s military warned people in a post on X in Arabic to evacuate buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
“You are located near facilities affiliated with Hezbollah,” it said alongside a map with buildings marked in red.
The strike came after Israel vowed to retaliate for rockets launched across its borders, allegedly by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah denied firing the rockets at northern Israel, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.
Israel’s Defense Minister said Friday that if there was no peace in Israel's northern communities, there would be no peace in Beirut either.
Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.
Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under the ceasefire deal. The deadline was extended to February 18, but Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon across from communities in northern Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.
Last week, Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon killed six people.
The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the exchange of fire was deeply concerning. “This is a critical period for Lebanon and the wider region,” she said Friday.
According to an Israeli official who was not authorised to speak to the media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been meeting with top security officials to discuss an impending strike on the capital.
The escalation comes as Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of people in Gaza.
Earlier this month, Israel halted deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel is demanding that the group give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.