Israel Launches Attack on Beirut Suburbs
The Israeli military has struck the Lebanese capital city of Beirut this morning, with the attack targeting Dahieh, the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut. Images from the scene show a residential building with its lower floors destroyed and smoke rising across the district
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Netanyahu and Katz claimed the strikes were in response to Hezbollah firing on Israeli territory, a claim that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Not only are Israel behind the vast majority of ceasefire violations in Lebanon, but our own ceasefire tracker consistently shows Hezbollah mostly target Israeli positions that are held illegally in southern Lebanon, while Israeli attacks are solely focused on civilian areas.
Iran had previously warned that northern Israel would face retaliation if Dahieh was hit. Iran has never withdrawn that warning. Whether it still holds, we are likely about to find out in the coming days. Iran’s previous warning stated that should this attack go ahead, the north of Israel would need to be evacuated to make way for Iranian strikes.
A virtual emergency session of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has been called in response to the attack. The SNSC session is being held in a limited format, with reports indicating that pre-planned instructions have already been issued based on the principle of "unity of the Resistance fronts", suggesting Iran's response, if it comes, was mapped out in advance.
The IDF claims that they have assessed that Iran will not respond directly to the attack, showing that the fear of retaliation played a major role in the decision to launch the strike.
Israeli media have described the targeted operations room as empty at the time of the strike, with Yedioth Ahronoth calling the attack "symbolic." No evidence has been presented to support any of the IDF's claims. There is no reason to take them at their word.
Donald Trump had also warned Israel against striking Beirut, Israeli media are reporting that their military first got Washington’s permission before launching the strike.
There are reports of multiple casualties, including deaths. One civilian passerby was killed in the strike and several more injured. No Hezbollah operatives were reported killed.
This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes clear to us.