Israeli forces have launched missiles on Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, on Monday, the military said, after Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
The nation’s military claimed to have “begun striking targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon” after an AFP correspondent heard multiple loud explosions in Beirut early on Monday.
It issued a mass evacuation warning, and an AFP writer observed residents in southern Lebanon fleeing in automobiles, some with mattresses fastened to the top.
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The Israeli raids came after missile and drone launches from Lebanon, which Hezbollah said was the first attack on Israel since a ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024 after more than a year of conflict.
Conflict with Israel has weakened Hezbollah, which joined the fight to back Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s October 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
Since the ceasefire went into place, Israel has frequently attacked Lebanon, claiming to be targeting the militant organization and accused it of breaking the peace.
On Monday, a military statement said Israeli forces “precisely struck” senior Hezbollah members in the Beirut area, and another in the south.
The strikes were reported nationwide by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, including in Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut.
It then issued a warning to residents of about 50 towns and villages in Lebanon’s south and east — both Hezbollah strongholds.
“Hezbollah’s actions force the IDF (army) to act against it… For your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and move at least 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) away from your village to open areas,” army spokeswoman Ella Waweya said in a statement on X.
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Prior to this, Hezbollah claimed credit for the rocket and drone attack on the nation, claiming it was reprisal for the US-Israeli strikes on Tehran over the weekend that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It was also “in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the repeated Israeli attacks”, Hezbollah said.
Meanwhile, an official from the group had told AFP last week that Hezbollah would not intervene militarily in the event of “limited” US strikes on its backer Iran, but would consider any attack against Khamenei a “red line”.
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