The Israeli military said Sunday that it had struck a Hezbollah target on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in retaliation for the Iran-backed group launching drones and rockets toward northern Israel.
The escalation on Sunday complicated an already delicate moment as President Trump and Iran appeared to be edging toward signing a framework peace agreement.
The strikes could lead to a broader flare-up if Iran decides to take retaliatory action against Israel, as it did a week ago under similar circumstances. The Israeli military said in a statement later on Sunday that it was preparing for potential fire toward Israel in the coming hours.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a joint statement that they had ordered the strike on the Dahiya neighborhood, a bastion of Hezbollah support on the fringes of Beirut. The military said the target was a Hezbollah command center.
“Israel will not tolerate firing at its territory,” they said in the statement.
Israeli aircraft launched additional attacks on Sunday in the Tyre district and other areas in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media reports. Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its operatives near the city of Tyre.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon in a series of statements on Sunday. The statements did not specifically refer to Israel’s accusation that the group had fired across the border into Israeli territory.
Late Saturday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a rocket launched by Hezbollah at Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon and had identified several additional launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel.
Israel and the United States jointly launched a war against Iran in late February. Soon after, Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with its patron, Tehran, igniting a new war in Lebanon. Iran insisted that any peace agreement with the United States extend to the conflict in Lebanon.
Israel has sought to prevent any direct link between a deal with Iran and its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. But Israel is not a party to the U.S. negotiations with Iran and has limited influence.
Iran’s lead negotiator with Washington, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, condemned Israel’s strike on Sunday in Dahiya and suggested that the United States was failing in its efforts to curb Israeli military action around the Lebanese capital.
“If you neither have the will nor the ability to execute your commitments, talking about the continuation of the path is not possible,” he said on X, referring to the negotiations between Iran and the United States to end the war.
Hezbollah rejected a U.S.-brokered cease-fire proposal for Lebanon earlier this month. The leader of Hezbollah, which was not included in U.S.-brokered talks, said a truce worked out between Israel and the Lebanese government amounted to surrender for his group.
But the fighting in Lebanon could lead to further destabilization in the region.
Israel’s military said it bombed a Hezbollah site on the southern outskirts of Beirut last Sunday, and Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at northern Israel. Israel counterattacked, striking sites in Iran in the first clashes between the countries since a cease-fire paused the war with Iran in April.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, said on Sunday that the current reality was “sensitive and complex,” and that Israel was “monitoring the situation closely, while maintaining vigilance and readiness on all fronts.”
The military said in its statement later Sunday that it “remains on high alert and prepared for a range of defensive and offensive scenarios.”
Lebanon’s health ministry did not immediately report casualties from the Israeli strike in Dahiya. There were no initial reports of casualties in Israel.
Reham Mourshed, Hwaida Saad, Gabby Sobelman, Heedo Abu Laban and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.
