Israel hits Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire ended the most recent war in Israel-Hezbollah

Beirut, Lebanon – Israel launched an attack on the Lebanese capital on Friday, Beirut, for the first time from a cessation It ended the most recent The Israel-Hezbollah war in November.

Associated Press reporters in Beirut have heard a powerful boom and witnessed smoke rising from the area of ​​the southern suburbs of Beirut, which the Israel’s army promised to hit.

The attack was the first strike on Beirut, because a cessation of fire took control on November 27, 2024 between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, although Israel has hit targets in the south of Lebanon since then.

After strike, the army of Israel said he had attacked a Hezbollah drone storage facility in the Dahiyeh area, which he called -oo Hezbollah key. Israel said Hezbollah uses civilians as human shields and said he has issued an advanced warning for people to leave.

The hit area is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools.

The strike came after the army of Israel urgently warned people to evacuate parts of a suburb of Beirut, making it respond against the strikes that they said were launched from Lebanon in northern Israel.

The Minister of Defense of Israel, Israel Katz, said on Friday that if there is no peace in the communities of northern Israel, there would be no peace in Beirut.

“I send a clear message from here to the Lebanese government: if you do not apply the ceasefire agreement, we will apply it,” he said.

Hezbollah denied rockets from northern Israel and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.

The government of Lebanon ordered all the schools and universities of Hadath’s southern suburb of Beirut to close the day. The inhabitants were seen running from the area to cars and on foot before the strike.

Hezbollah started launching rockets, drones and rockets in Israel the next day Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack From Gaza he lit the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict It was boiled in the All-Out War in September, while Israel performed waves of air attacks and killed most of the upper leaders of the militant group. The fights killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and moved about 60,000 Israelis.

The Israeli forces had to withdraw from the entire Lebanese territory until the end of January in the Fire Tervele Agreement. The deadline was expanded until February 18, but Israel remained in five locations in Lebanon, opposite the northern communities. Meanwhile, Israel performed dozens of air attacks In the south and east of the Lebanon, saying he attacked Hezbollah, while continuously drone attacks who killed several members of the militant group.

Last week, Israeli air attacks in several Lebanon locations killed six people.

Speaking from Paris, the president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, said that the strike at a suburb of Beirut was a continuation “of the breaches of Israel” which was sponsored by France and the USA.

During a common news conference with Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Beirut air attack is “unacceptable”, adding that he would talk to US President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the next time, in the situation in the Lebanon situation. Macron said that we can exert pressure on Israel.

Macron added that Friday’s strikes and failure to respect fire cessation “are unilateral actions that betray a given promise and play in Hezbollah’s hands.”

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the fire exchange was deep. “This is a critical period for Lebanon and the wider region,” she said on Friday.

Israeli strikes in other parts of Lebanon killed three people on Friday and injured 18, including children and women, in the South Kfar Village, the Ministry of Health said.

Climbing comes while Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas, launching a surprise wave of strikes who killed hundreds of people in Gaza. Earlier this month, Israel stopped delivering food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid for about 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel promised to climb the war until Hamas returns 59 hostages he still holds – 24 of them believed they were alive. Israel demands that the group give up power, disarm and send leaders to exile.

Hamas said he would release only the remaining captives in exchange for the Palestinian prisoners, a lasting fire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The war was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, the attack in Israel, in which the Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, largely civilians, and abducted 251.

The reprisal offensive in Israel killed over 50,000 people and injured 114,000, according to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, which does not say how many civilians or combatants.

The ministry said on Friday that almost 900 were killed in Gaza since the ceasefire ended in mid -March, including over 40 in the last 24 hours.

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The reports of Associated Press, Julia Frankel, in Jerusalem and Samuel Perequin, contributed to this report.

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