Israel strikes Beirut for the first time since a cease-fire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war
Israel on Friday launched an attack on Lebanon’s capital for the first time since a cease-fire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from an area in the city’s southern suburbs that Israel’s military had vowed to strike.It marked Israel’s first strike on Beirut since a cease-fire took hold last November between it and the Hezbollah militant group, though Israel has attacked targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.Israel’s army said it hit a Hezbollah drone storage facility in Dahiyeh, which it called a militant stronghold.The strike came after Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, warned residents to evacuate the area.The area struck is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools.Israeli officials said the attack was retaliation for rockets it said were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.They promised strikes on Beirut would continue unless Lebanon’s government worked to ensure such attacks ceased.“We will not allow firing at our communities, not even a trickle,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“We will attack everywhere in Lebanon, against any threat to the State of Israel.”Hezbollah denied firing the rockets, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.Lebanon’s government ordered all schools and universities in Beirut’s southern suburb of Hadath to close for the day.Residents were seen fleeing the area in cars and on foot ahead of the strike.Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after the Oct.
7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by its Hamas allies ignited the war in Gaza.Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 in Israel and abducted 251 others during the 2023 attack.The Israel-Hezbollah conflict exploded into all-out war last September when Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and ki...