Israel strikes building in Dahieh, killing at least 3 people

An Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahieh, killed at least three people overnight Tuesday, Lebanese authorities said, after Israel announced its second strike on the country's capital in a fragile four-month truce.

The attack that came without warning at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) during the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday. It came after Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs, a bastion of Hezbollah support, on Friday after issuing an evacuation warning.

The Israeli military said "the strike targeted a Hezbollah terrorist who had recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them in planning a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians," in a joint statement with the domestic Shin Bet security agency.

Israel's Channel 14 said Israeli security agencies had received information that that the targeted man had been planning "an attack against an Israeli plane in Cyprus."

Lebanon's health ministry said the strike killed three people and wounded seven others.

An AFP photographer at the scene said the top two floors of a multi-story building were destroyed and that debris covered the street. Panicked residents poured of their homes as rescue workers helped the wounded.

President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike and called on his country's international allies to support "our right to full sovereignty."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the attack was a "clear breach" of a ceasefire deal that largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Without identifying the alleged Hezbollah operative, Israel's military said it "acted to eliminate him and removed the threat," just days after striking the southern suburbs in response to rocket fire from Lebanon which it blamed on the Lebanese militant group.

Jets were heard in parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Hay Madi neighborhood. During Israel's last war with Hezbollah, Israeli drones and jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel sees the area as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there.

“We were at home. It was Eid al-Fitr,” said Hussein Noureddine, a resident in the neighborhood. “We didn’t know where it happened, but once the smoke cleared we saw it was the building facing us.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the Israeli army would "strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat" in response to the rocket fire.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in the months since the November 27 ceasefire, hitting what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement.

- 'Enforce' truce -

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023 in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

In September last year, Israel dramatically scaled up its campaign against Hezbollah, heavily bombing the group's strongholds in south and east Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, and later sending in ground troops.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem on Saturday condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

"This aggression must end. We cannot allow this to continue," Qassem said in a televised address.

Israel's military said Friday two "projectiles" were fired towards Israel, with one intercepted and the other falling inside Lebanon.

It was the second time rockets had been launched at Israel from Lebanon since the ceasefire, after an earlier incident on March 22.

Hezbollah denied involvement on both occasions and Lebanese authorities have reportedly arrested Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian suspects.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said Lebanon's "government bears direct responsibility for any fire toward the Galilee" and if it does not enforce the ceasefire, "we will enforce it".

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems "strategic".

The agreement also required Hezbollah to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

The Lebanese Army has deployed in the south as the Israeli military pulled back.