Israel launches airstrikes near Beirut for first time since ceasefire

BEIRUT — The Israeli military launched airstrikes in the southern outskirts of Beirut on Friday for the first time since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect in November, shattering months of tense calm in the Lebanese capital and stoking fears of a further escalation.

The bombardment came after rockets were fired at northern Israel from Lebanese territory earlier in the day, setting off air raid sirens in three communities near the border. The Israeli military subsequently ordered residents of the densely populated Hadath neighborhood of Dahiya, an area on the southern edges of Beirut, to evacuate from the vicinity of a building there.

Less than two hours later, the airstrikes began.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a site that stored Hezbollah’s drones but did not explicitly blame the Lebanese militant group for the rocket fire earlier in the day. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the attack on Israel and said it remained committed to the ceasefire.

But this was the second such exchange of fire in less than a week, prompting fears that the truce between Israel and Hezbollah could unravel. At least three people were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Lebanese military said it was investigating who had fired the rockets. Hezbollah, which is struggling to recover from the devastating 14-month conflict with Israel, has little desire to risk reigniting a conflict, according to experts.

But Palestinian armed groups like Hamas also maintain a sizable presence in Lebanon, operating mostly from decades-old refugee camps. During the war in the Gaza Strip, these groups have intermittently launched rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

After the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israeli positions in solidarity with its Palestinian ally. After nearly a year of low-level violence, the fighting escalated into full-scale war and an Israeli ground invasion before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire.

It marked Lebanon’s deadliest and most destructive conflict since the country’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.

Despite the truce, Israeli forces have regularly attacked in southern and eastern Lebanon, leading Hezbollah to accuse Israel of breaking the ceasefire. But Dahiya, which is traditionally a bastion of support for Hezbollah, had not been targeted since the ceasefire went into effect.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said that the country was determined to “strongly enforce” the ceasefire, which obligated the Lebanese government to prevent militant groups from attacking Israel from its territory.

“The equation has changed,” Netanyahu said. “We will not allow firing at our communities — not even a trickle.”

After the Israeli military issued the evacuation warnings, surveillance drones began to whir above Beirut and gunfire erupted in the Dahiya as residents attempted to alert neighbors to an imminent Israeli strike. Lebanese authorities also ordered all schools in the area to close, and parents rushed to collect screaming children. Students who spoke to The New York Times reported being ordered by teachers to move away from the windows and said their classmates broke down in fear.

The pandemonium was reminiscent of the most intense days of the war, when Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s southern outskirts on an almost daily basis.

“People are panicking,” said Elie Hachem, the director of the St. Therese hospital, about 600 meters (about 655 yards) from the targeted building. “I can hear cars honking like crazy outside on the street.”

The hospital, which had been badly damaged in the war, was left unscathed by the strike, but casualties soon began arriving into the emergency room, Hachem said.

Air raid sirens warning of incoming rocket fire had rung out earlier Friday in northern Israel, including in the city of Kiryat Shmona. The Israeli military later said one of the projectiles was intercepted and another fell inside Lebanese territory.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam ordered the country’s security forces to arrest those responsible for the rocket fire, calling it “irresponsible” and a threat to “Lebanon’s stability and security,” according to a statement.

The Lebanese government is distinct from Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia and political party that wielded enormous influence in Lebanon before the war. The new government has pledged to bring all weapons under the state’s control — including Hezbollah’s — but it remains unclear exactly when and how they will do that.

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for restraint, warning that “a return to wider conflict in Lebanon would be devastating.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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