Israel strikes Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT, Lebanon (news agencies) — Israel on Friday launched an attack on Lebanon’s capital for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.

media reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from an area in the city’s southern suburbs that Israel’s military had vowed to strike.

It marked Israel’s first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold last November between it and the Hezbollah militant group, though Israel has attacked targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.

Israel’s army said it had hit a Hezbollah drone storage facility in Dahiyeh, which it called a militant stronghold. The strike came after Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, warned residents to evacuate the area.

The area struck is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools.

Israeli officials said the attack was retaliation for rockets it said had been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. They promised strikes on Beirut would continue unless Lebanon’s government worked to ensure such attacks ceased.

“We will not allow firing at our communities, not even a trickle,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We will attack everywhere in Lebanon, against any threat to the State of Israel.”