The Israeli military said Sunday that it had struck a Hezbollah target on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in retaliation for the Iran-backed group launching drones and rockets toward northern Israel.
The escalation on Sunday complicated an already delicate moment as President Trump and Iran appeared to be edging toward signing a framework peace agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a joint statement that they had ordered the strike on the Dahiya neighborhood, a bastion of Hezbollah support on the fringes of Beirut. The military said the target was a Hezbollah command center.
“Israel will not tolerate firing at its territory,” they said in the statement.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon in a series of statements on Sunday. The statements did not specifically refer to Israel’s accusation that the group had fired across the border into Israeli territory. Late Saturday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a rocket launched by Hezbollah at Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon and had identified several additional launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel.
Israel and the United States jointly launched a war against Iran in late February. Soon after, Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with its patron, Tehran, igniting a new war in Lebanon. Iran insisted that any peace agreement with the United States extend to the conflict in Lebanon.
Hezbollah rejected a U.S.-brokered cease-fire proposal earlier this month. Hezbollah’s leader said the group, which was not included in U.S.-brokered talks, said a truce worked out between Israel and the Lebanese government amounted to surrender for his group.
Israel’s military said it bombed a Hezbollah site on the southern outskirts of Beirut last Sunday, and Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at northern Israel. Israel counterattacked, striking sites in Iran in the first clashes between the countries since a cease-fire paused the war with Iran in April.
Lebanon’s health ministry did not immediately report casualties from the Israeli strike. There were no initial reports of casualties in Israel.
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