Tel Aviv
\nIsrael struck Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs on Sunday for the second time in a week in response to what it said was Hezbollah fire at northern Israel, while its military also carried out broader strikes on southern Lebanon.
\nThe latest escalation came despite expectations that a deal between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war could be imminent, as Tehran insists a ceasefire in Lebanon must be part of any deal.
\nLebanon\u2019s official National News Agency (NNA) said a strike hit an apartment in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood of Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.
\nAn AFP correspondent saw smoke and dust rising near a heavily damaged apartment as debris covered the street and people searched for survivors, with panic in the area after the strike along a busy road filled with shops.
\nIsraeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have warned that Israel would strike south Beirut should the Iran-backed Hezbollah group target northern Israeli communities, a position they say has the backing of Washington.
\nThe Israeli military earlier Sunday said three drones, suspected to have been launched by Hezbollah, struck northern Israel in separate incidents, causing no casualties.
\nHezbollah on Sunday claimed several attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded southern Lebanon, but did not immediately claim any attack on northern Israel.
\nNetanyahu\u2019s office said that the Israeli military had \u201ccarried out strikes in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut against terrorist targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, in response to Hezbollah\u2019s firing toward Israeli territory\u201d.
\nIsrael\u2019s military said it had \u201cprecisely struck\u201d a Hezbollah infrastructure site in Dahiyeh.
\nTwo far-right Israeli ministers earlier Sunday had called for retaliatory strikes on Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs.
\n\u201cThe shooting at northern communities is a test of the Dahiyeh Doctrine that the prime minister declared.
\nI call on him to implement it decisively and firmly, and to bring down buildings in Dahiyeh,\u201d Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X.
\n\u201cFor every drone \u2014 a missile; for every violation \u2014 fire; for every UAV \u2014 Dahiyeh must tremble,\u201d wrote National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X.
\nIsrael\u2019s military also struck Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs last Sunday, hitting apartments in two buildings after saying it had intercepted rockets launched by Hezbollah into Israeli territory.
\nIran launched missiles towards Israel in response to that attack, triggering Israeli retaliatory strikes before both sides halted fire.
\nIran had repeatedly warned it would strike Israel if the Lebanese capital was targeted.
\nOn Sunday, Lebanon\u2019s NNA reported Israeli strikes on more than a dozen locations in the country\u2019s south, both before and after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for almost 30 locations ahead of strikes there.
\nIsrael\u2019s military activity in recent days has been focused on the region around the major southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, and many of Sunday\u2019s Israeli army evacuation warning locations were north of the city.
\nA military source told AFP on Sunday that a small Lebanese army force, which had been present in Kfar Tibnit, adjacent to Nabatieh, evacuated its position there a day earlier after Israeli incursions into the village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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