Israel has carried out several air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying it was targeting Hezbollah’s drone production.
The attack on Thursday night, the eve of Eid Al Adha, one of the most important celebrations in Islam, followed evacuation warnings for several buildings in the area, where Hezbollah is based in the capital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had identified a Hezbollah unit producing “thousands” of drones underground, funded by “Iranian terrorists”.
The attack occurred despite a ceasefire being in effect between Israel and the armed group for the past six months.
Lebanon’s prime minister said he “strongly condemns” the strikes.
“I consider them to constitute a systematic and deliberate attack on our homeland, its security, stability, and economy, especially on the eve of the holidays and the tourist season,” Nawaf Salam said in a post on X.
Thousands fled packed streets in the densely populated area following the evacuation warning, causing a traffic gridlock. Plumes of smoke then appeared in the sky.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the strikes as a “flagrant violation of an international accord” while noting it had occurred “on the eve of a sacred religious festival”.
The strikes “generated renewed panic and fear on the eve of Eid Al-Adha,” the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon wrote on X.
Jeannine Hennis also pointed to the importance of diplomacy in addressing “disputes or threats” and preventing “unnecessary and dangerous escalation”.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz praised the military’s “perfect execution” of the strikes, saying Israel holds the Lebanese government “directly responsible for preventing violations of the ceasefire and all terrorist activity”.
Israel’s military said Hezbollah’s “extensive use” of drones was central to its attacks on Israel, calling the activities “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
An hour before the air strikes occurred, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, ordered residents living in the neighbourhoods of Hadath, Haret Hreik and Borj el-Barajneh in the Dahieh area to evacuate.
“You are next to infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah,” he said in a social media post that included a map identifying specific buildings.
Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought an escalating conflict for 13 months from 2023-24. It culminated in an intense Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into southern Lebanon in October.
Lebanese authorities say Israel’s attacks killed about 4,000 people there – including many civilians – and led to the displacement of more than 1.2 million residents. Israeli authorities say more than 80 of its soldiers and 47 of its civilians were killed in the hostilities.
Israel said the military intervention was necessary to dismantle Hezbollah installations near the border that it argued a UN peacekeeping mission had failed to stop.
Its stated goal was to allow the return of about 60,000 residents who had been displaced from communities in the country’s north because of the group’s attacks.
A ceasefire struck in late November between Israel and Lebanon – but not Hezbollah – saw Israel withdraw while the Lebanese army took over policing southern Lebanon.
The agreement also stated that its commitments “do not preclude either Israel or Lebanon from exercising their inherent right of self-defence, consistent with international law”.
Israel has carried out air strikes in Lebanon on targets it says are linked to Hezbollah in the months since.
In April, Israel attacked what it described as a Hezbollah store of “precision-guided missiles” in the same Dahieh region.
Earlier the same month, it launched a similar strike, killing a Hezbollah official and three other people, Lebanon’s health ministry said at the time.
Lebanon’s government said those attacks, as well as the continued stationing of Israeli soldiers in five locations in southern Lebanon, constitute violations of the truce.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli positions the day after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
