Israel escalates war against Hezbollah with airstrikes on Beirut suburbs

Israel has carried out airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the most serious escalation in its war with Hezbollah since a ceasefire was established in mid-April.

The strike hit two apartments in two separate buildings, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, killing two people and wounding 11, according to an initial death toll.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said that the Israeli military had struck “terrorist headquarters” in the southern suburbs “in response to Hezbollah’s firing at Israeli territory”. Israel said that it intercepted Hezbollah rocket fire at northern Israel on Sunday morning, though the armed group did not claim responsibility for the attacks.

The attacks showered the streets in rubble and caused a wave of people to flee the southern suburbs in fear of further strikes.

The strikes on Beirut came just days after a ceasefire proposal agreed by the Lebanese government and Israel was rejected by Hezbollah. Washington had previously asked Israel to not strike Beirut, though Israeli media reported that the US had been informed before Sunday’s strike.

Iran had also previously threatened that any attack on Beirut would be met with its own attack on northern Israel. It had yet to comment on Israel’s attack on Sunday.

Fighting in Lebanon started on 2 March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering an Israeli invasion. Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,613 people in Lebanon, while Hezbollah has killed at least 30 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 3 Israeli civilians.

The skirmishes in Lebanon have been an obstacle for Iran-US negotiations, as Tehran insists that Lebanon be included in a broader ceasefire deal. On Sunday, Trump told NBC News he was not demanding that Lebanon be part of any peace deal with Iran, claiming again that such an agreement, which has so far proved elusive, was near.

“I think they’d like ​to see it, but I’m not demanding,” Trump said in the interview recorded on Friday. He added: “We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going ‌to ⁠blow the hell out of them [Iran].”

Before the strike on Sunday, Israel had issued a forced evacuation order for most of the city of Tyre, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon which is hosting thousands of people displaced from villages in the surrounding area. The Israeli army said that it would soon begin striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the city, exempting Tyre’s Christian quarter from the evacuation order.

Israel also carried out airstrikes across the south of Lebanon, while Hezbollah claimed responsibility for rocket and artillery barrages against Israeli troops in the Nabatieh area. Fighting has been concentrated around the city of Zawtar al-Sharqiya after Israel took the Beaufort Castle along the route to Nabatieh, a large city in south Lebanon that is has been encircling.

On Saturday, the Israeli military killed two Lebanese army soldiers and an army captain in a strike on their vehicle. The Lebanese army is not party to the Hezbollah-Israel war.

The government of Lebanon and Israel are negotiating directly in Washington in an attempt to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hezbollah, which is the party fighting with Israel, is not participating in talks and in recent days has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that does not include a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and an end to Israeli strikes across the country, not just in Beirut.

It is unclear how negotiations in Washington will be affected by Israel’s latest strikes on Beirut.