Israel hits Lebanon with massive wave of airstrikes
Israeli military announces ‘largest coordinated strike’ against Hezbollah since war began on 2 March
Israel carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing and wounding nearly 300 – and prompting Iran to warn it could withdraw from the ceasefire agreed with the US overnight.
Warplanes levelled several buildings in the centre of the capital city , filling the skies with smoke in what Israel’s defence minister said was “a surprise strike” on the pro-Iranian group..
Beirut was filled with cars crumpled by the blasts and the flaming wreckage of buildings that first responders struggled to extinguish as Israel bombed more than 100 Hezbollah military sites around the country.
The office of Israel’s prime minister had said the two week Middle East ceasefire “does not include Lebanon,” contrary to an initial statement made by mediator Pakistan – while Trump after initially remaining silent, said that Lebanon was “a separate skirmish” and not part of the deal.
The head of the Lebanese Red Cross said 80 had been killed and 200 wounded. Hospitals put out an urgent call for blood donations to deal with an influx of casualties, while the ministry of health urged people to “clear the streets” so ambulances could reach the injured.
People rushed home to check on their families; a man filmed as he ran towards a struck building in the Chiyah neighbourhood, screaming: “There are people inside!”Pictures of rubble-covered children circulated on social media as people tried to find their parents.
Iranian sources told the country’s Tasnim news agency that Iran was ready to exit the ceasefire agreement if Israel “persists in violating the truce in Lebanon”, and the crisis was discussed by Iran’s foreign minister and his Pakistani counterpart.
Israel Katz, the country’s defence minister, said the two theatres – Iran and Lebanon – were separate and said the aim was to “change the reality in Lebanon and remove threats from the residents of the north”.
The Israeli politician went on to directly threaten Hezbollah’s leader. “We warned Naim Qassem that Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price for attacking Israel on Iran’s behalf - and Naim Qassem’s personal turn will come too,” he said.
Trump said he was aware of the Israeli bombing, and said that Lebanon was “not included in the deal” because of Hezbollah. Asked if the Israeli attacks were acceptable to him, the US president said it was “a separate skirmish”.
Up until the wave of airstrikes by Israel across Lebanon on Wednesday, Hezbollah had not announced any attacks against Israel – a first since the war between it and Israel began on 2 March.
Initially Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, said Iran, the US and their allies had “agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere” as he announced the ceasefire overnight.
Highways leading south in Lebanon were choked with traffic as dawn broke. Residents were attempting to return to their homes, though Hezbollah urged people not to return to certain villages because Israeli troops remained there.
Iran’s 10-point peace plan, nominally accepted as a basis for negotiations by Trump, called for an end of the war against “all components of the ‘axis of resistance’,” which, for Tehran, includes the pro-Iranian Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Trump did not refer to Lebanon in his Tuesday ceasefire statements, which focused on Iran, leaving it unclear at first Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, which have killed more than 1,500 people, many of them civilians, would come to a halt.
There were signs on Tuesday that the wider diplomatic conversation, mediated in Pakistan between the US and Iran, had come to a conclusion without Israel’s immediate input. Trump called Netanyahu to inform the Israeli leader of his decision shortly before making his ceasefire announcement.
The Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu had failed politically and strategically. “There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history. Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security,” he posted in the morning.
An hour before the Iran pause was announced, Israel bombed a car in front of a row of beachside cafes in Saida, Lebanon, killing eight people and wounding 22, according to the Lebanese ministry of health.
Israel continued striking Lebanon into the morning, hitting the south with artillery fire and carrying out two separate drone strikes on the town of Qana and al-Qleileh. Hezbollah said it had not responded.
The almost five weeks of war in Lebanon has brought the country to its breaking point, with more than 1.1 million people forcibly displaced, many of whom are living on the streets. More than 1,530 people had been killed and 4,812 wounded by Israeli airstrikes, Lebanon’s ministry of health said on Tuesday.
Several air raids on Israel took place in the first part of the night but stopped shortly before 3.30am, about 40 minutes after the Pakistani prime minister’s ceasefire announcement. No incoming attacks have been reported since.