Israel widened its offensive in Lebanon on Thursday, striking Beirut for the first time in almost a month and pushing deeper into the country’s south, as its escalating conflict with Hezbollah threatens negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike in the Lebanese capital but did not disclose the target. Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported that the attack hit an apartment building on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group, has long held sway.
The strike has stoked fears that the city, which had largely been spared since the cease-fire in Lebanon took effect last month, could be drawn back into the fighting.
Israel said on Thursday that it had also struck more than 135 targets belonging to Hezbollah over the previous 24 hours in southern and eastern Lebanon, including rocket launch sites and training camps.
Many of the strikes took place in residential areas and affected civilians. One attack on a vehicle near the city of Sidon killed six people, including a mother and her two children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Hezbollah also continued its attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, and sirens sounded repeatedly throughout the day in Israeli border communities warning of incoming fire.
The fighting appeared especially fierce around the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, about six miles from the Israeli border. Israel said its ground forces have advanced beyond the “forward defense line,” an area extending several miles into Lebanon that Israel has occupied since it invaded the country in March.
The widening offensive comes at a delicate moment in the region, with the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon only intensifying despite a cease-fire signed last month.
The United States and Iran have been inching toward a possible agreement to end the war in Iran. But Iran has demanded that any deal include an end to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah, the most powerful ally in Tehran’s network of regional armed groups. Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon threatens to complicate that fragile diplomacy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said this week that the country’s military was “deepening its operation” inside Lebanon, adding to uncertainty over whether the war with Hezbollah would be part of any overall U.S.-Iran deal.
Iranian officials have previously told The New York Times that a peace agreement would end fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. But Mr. Netanyahu has suggested that Israel would still be able to defend itself against threats from Hezbollah there, saying President Trump had affirmed that right.
