Israel strikes Beirut southern suburbs after intercepting Hezbollah launches

BEIRUT – Israel’s military struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on June 7, hitting two apartments in two buildings, after saying it had intercepted two projectiles launched by Hezbollah into Israeli territory.

Israel and Hezbollah regularly exchange fire, but the area on the south of the capital – including districts seen as bastions of the Iran-backed group – has been relatively spared, having been struck only twice since mid-April.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the army “just struck a militant command centre in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah’s fire towards Israeli territory”.

In a separate statement, the Israeli military said that after Hezbollah had launched rockets towards civilian targets in Israel, a “precise strike” was conducted against one of the group’s command centres.

“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” it said.

The strikes “targeted two apartments in two buildings”, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

An AFP photographer saw two apartments damaged in a building on a narrow street, and traffic congestion as residents tried to leave the suburb while the Lebanese army deployed to the area.

Earlier this week in Washington, Lebanese and Israeli envoys touted a conditional truce that would have required Hezbollah to stop firing and withdraw from near the Israeli border.

But Hezbollah rejected the agreement, demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

Even after the deal was announced, Israel warned it would strike Beirut’s southern suburbs should Hezbollah attack northern Israel.

Air raid sirens sounded on the Israeli side of the border earlier on June 7, and the military said “two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory were intercepted”.

There was no immediate comment from the Iran-backed group, which claimed separate attacks against Israeli troops in Lebanon on June 7.

Iran threats

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of its patron Iran.

Tehran has since insisted that any deal to end the wider war – paused by a separate April ceasefire – must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.

Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the United States of giving Israel the “green light” for the Beirut strike and threatened retaliation.

“Our armed forces, as always, are free to act,” he said.

The spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s national security commission, Ebrahim Rezaei, also warned of “a decisive and painful response” to the strikes on June 7.

Iran’s insistence that the conflicts are linked has complicated negotiations for Washington. In an interview aired on June 7, US President Donald Trump called for Israel to take a more precise approach.

“I’d like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press in an interview conducted on June 5. “I’d like to see Lebanon have a better life.”

Tyre warning

Lebanon’s NNA reported a series of Israeli strikes across the south on June 7.

The attacks come a day after at least five people were killed in Israeli strikes according to Lebanese authorities, including Lebanese troops, one of them a general.

On June 7, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for most of Tyre and its surroundings.

The coastal city shelters thousands of displaced people and has been heavily bombed since the fighting began.

Civil defence teams evacuated around 500 families from schools that had been converted into shelters and transferred them to the city’s Christian quarter, which was not included in the warning, an AFP correspondent reported.

Near Sidon, a bit further north, three members of the same family and a rescue worker killed in an Israeli airstrike were buried on June 7.

At least 131 rescuers have been killed by Israel in this war, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

“We do not carry rockets, our only weapon is the bread we deliver to people. They went and gave the family bread, but as they were leaving, a drone struck them,” rescuer Qassem Foani told AFP.

Israel’s extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion have killed more than 3,600 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. AFP