Israel on Sunday carried out airstrikes in Beirut, with the military saying it targeted a Hezbollah headquarters in the group’s stronghold of Dahiyeh, a large suburb just south of the Lebanese capital.
Two people were killed and at least 11 were wounded in strikes, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, adding that two apartments in two separate buildings were targeted.
Images of the aftermath showed several apartment buildings heavily damaged.
Iran threatened to retaliate, saying, “Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight.”
According to the Saudi al-Hadath channel, Israel updated the United States ahead of the strikes. Israel has largely refrained from striking Beirut during the current conflict, at the request of the White House, which fears it would harm Washington’s efforts to secure a ceasefire and future nuclear deal with Iran, which is conditioning any agreement on a truce in Lebanon.
The last Israeli strike in the capital occurred on May 28, which was itself the first strike in the city in over three weeks.
Announcing the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they came in response to the terror group’s rocket fire on northern Israel Sunday morning, the first rockets fired at Israel since Wednesday, and the first since a porous ceasefire in Lebanon was renewed last week.
Sirens had sounded in the border communities of Yiftah and Ramot Naftali amid the attack. The military said it intercepted two rockets that were fired at Israel.
Israeli leaders have vowed that the military would strike in Beirut if Hezbollah attacked Israel during the ostensible ceasefire.
The Israel Defense Forces later published footage showing the airstrike. The IDF said it struck a Hezbollah headquarters from which terror operatives advanced attacks on Israel and troops in southern Lebanon, in response to the Hezbollah rocket attack earlier in the day.
The IDF said earlier that it struck and destroyed the launchers used by Hezbollah to fire the rockets Sunday morning.
Reacting to the strikes, a senior Iranian parliament member promised a “painful and decisive response.”
“This rabid dog must be disciplined and put in its place. Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight,” Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s foreign policy and national security committee, posted on X.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, said that the US naval blockade of Iran and its reported green light for Israel to attack Beirut made US bases and Israeli assets in the Middle East legitimate targets.
“They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon they showed that they only understand the language of power,” Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s top negotiator, said in a post on X.
Iran’s foreign minister last week threatened that any Israeli attack on Beirut would be a violation of the ceasefire with the US and elicit a response from Iran.
IDF again calls for evacuation of Tyre ahead of strikes
Also on Sunday, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the southern coastal Lebanese city of Tyre ahead of airstrikes on Hezbollah.
Residents of most neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs were instructed to head north of the Zahrani River.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is compelled to act against it with force,” warned army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
“Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, its facilities, and its weapons is putting their life at risk,” he added.
Tyre, the country’s fifth-largest city and the most populated urban area in south Lebanon, has been ordered to evacuate several times by the IDF. Tens of thousands have fled the city in recent weeks, though Lebanese media has reported that over 100,000 people remain in the city.
The IDF also announced Sunday that four reservist soldiers were moderately wounded by an explosive-laden first-person view drone launched by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon the day before.
The troops were taken to a hospital and their families were notified, the army said.
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