Israel launches air strike on Beirut for first time since ceasefire with Lebanon began

LAST UPDATE | 14 hrs ago

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military struck Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

It marks the first time Israel has struck the city since its tentative ceasefire with Lebanon came into place on 17 April.

Netanyahu said the strike targeted a top Hezbollah commander.

“The Israeli army has struck in Beirut to target the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force, in an attempt to neutralise him,” a joint statement issued by Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz said.

“Radwan operatives, under his command, were responsible for firing at Israeli communities and for attacks on Israeli soldiers,” the statement said, without naming the commander.

News agency AFP reported a source close to Hezbollah said the senior commander had been killed in the strike.

At least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

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In Saksakiyeh, four people were killed and 33 wounded, including six children and four women.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency also reported strikes across the south, including several on the town of Yater.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 2,700 people and displaced more than a million, particularly from southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, since 2 March.

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today it had “verified 152 attacks on healthcare that resulted in 103 deaths and 241 injuries”.

“These attacks have resulted in the closure of three hospitals and 41 primary health centres and caused damage to a further 16 hospitals.”

Beirut and its southern suburbs had been spared Israeli attacks since 8 April, when massive Israeli strikes across the country killed more than 350 people.

Today’s attack comes as US president Donald Trump said there was “a very good chance” of sealing a peace deal with Iran.

While a truce went into force on 17 April, Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon, particularly the south, with Hezbollah retaliating by launching attacks on Israeli troops.