Israel will 'strike anywhere in Lebanon against any threat,' Netanyahu warns

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Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday. / AP

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israel military launched a strike on suburban Beirut Friday, the first time it has struck Lebanon's capital city area since it reached a November 2024 ceasefire with the militant group Hezbollah.

Israel said it was targeting a building in the Dahiyeh suburb where Hezbollah was storing drones, after early morning rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group denied Friday's rocket fire, as well as a previous attack on March 22, and said it was committed to the ceasefire. No other group has claimed responsibility.

"We will not allow any fire on our communities, not even a trickle," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "We will continue to enforce the ceasefire with strength, strike anywhere in Lebanon against any threat to the State of Israel, and ensure that all our residents in the north return to their homes safely."

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Firemen inspect the area after an Israeli army strike in the suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, Friday. / AP

The Israeli military warned residents to evacuate Dahiyeh, especially the Hadath neighborhood, prior to the strike, showing a map with the location of the target.

Between the evacuation warning and the attack, Umm Abbas, 60, told NPR by phone from Hadath: "There's panic. There are two schools nearby filled with kids. People are screaming left and right, people are crying."

Soon, news images showed plumes of smoke rising from Beirut's southern suburbs.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in the capital. But Lebanese officials have reported 18 people killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli drone, air and artillery strikes over the past week.

United Nations peacekeepers tell NPR they have tallied thousands of ceasefire violations, most of them by Israel.

The fighting comes after Israel broke a separate ceasefire with Hamas, renewing its military offensive in the Gaza Strip that started after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike in his country, saying it would "bring back the circle of violence," according to news reports from Paris, where he was visiting when the news broke.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Aoun on Friday, called the strikes "unacceptable."

"Today's strikes and the failure to respect the ceasefire are unilateral actions that betray a given promise and play into Hezbollah's hands," Macron said.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Alex Leff reported from Tel Aviv, Lauren Frayer and Jawad Rizkallah from Damascus. Yanal Jabarin contributed reporting from Jerusalem.