BEIRUT — Israeli forces launched an airstrike against a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces in Beirut’s southern suburbs Wednesday, the first attack near the Lebanese capital since the start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last month.
“No terrorist has immunity; the long arm of Israel will reach every enemy and murderer,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. The identity of the target was not immediately clear. A Hezbollah official told The Washington Post that there appeared to be fatalities and a search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Photos shared on social media showed emergency workers searching the rubble of a multistory building in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.
The attack threatened the already shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah mediated by the United States in mid-April. The sides had continued to exchange fire in southern Lebanon, but Israel had refrained from striking Beirut, the country’s largest city, and Hezbollah had refrained from attacking Israeli territory.
People who had cautiously returned to the southern suburbs at the start of the ceasefire were checking into Beirut hotels Wednesday night.
The U.S. announced the temporary truce days after Lebanese and Israeli diplomats met in Washington for their first direct talks in decades. It was extended by three weeks after the sides met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
The Israel Defense Forces assassinated Radwan leader Ali Tabatabai in a strike late last year in Haret Hreik. The neighborhood is home to many of Hezbollah’s main offices.
The Radwan Forces, formed in 2006, are Hezbollah’s elite fighting unit. Many of its members have been hardened battling the Islamic State in Syria. Its name honors the slain Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah, who fought under the nom de guerre “Radwan.”
The current round of fighting started in early March, ending 15 months of relative calm. Hezbollah responded to the killing of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the militants’ most important sponsor, by launching a salvo of rockets and drones at Israel.
At least 2,700 Lebanese combatants and civilians have died in the fighting since, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between them. Twenty Israelis, including 17 soldiers, a security person and two civilians have died, according to Israeli authorities.
Soroka reported from Tel Aviv.
The post Israel strikes Beirut suburbs, threatening already shaky ceasefire appeared first on Washington Post.
