Beirut: Israel launched strikes on Lebanon on Monday, including its capital Beirut, in retaliation to attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“In response to Hezbollah’s projectile fire, Israeli forces have begun striking targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation across Lebanon,” the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said.
The Hezbollah fired rockets at targets in Israel after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It fired rockets and drones “in retaliation for the pure blood of… Ayatollah Imam Sayyid Ali al-Husseini Khamenei… and in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the repeated Israeli attacks,” the Hezbollah said.
These attacks and counter-attacks brought an end to t
he fragile peace between Israel and Lebanon that lasted since November 2024. The ceasefire agreement between the two sides had ended a year of war between the two sides.
Israeli strikes were reported across Lebanon, starting with Beirut’s southern suburbs – a Hezbollah stronghold – by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The agency also reported “major displacement” from Beirut’s southern suburbs and the south of the country as residents tried to escape the areas.
While Hezbollah claimed that its strikes against Israel were for the people of Lebanon, the country’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said the attacks were “irresponsible and suspicious”, as reported by AFP.
Salam did not name the Hezbollah but said that his government would “take all necessary measures to stop the perpetrators and protect the Lebanese people.”
Authorities in Lebanon have repeatedly said they do not wish to involve their country in the outbreak of conflict in the region, which started after joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Iran responded with a wave of missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf nations that host US bases.