Israel conducts airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in southern Beirut

Early this morning, the Israeli military said it launched a barrage of strikes on Beirut aimed at the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, hours after urging residents in several districts to evacuate.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on 2 March, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Since then, Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon and sent ground troops into the country’s south.

In a brief statement this morning, the Israeli military said its forces were “currently striking Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets in Beirut”.

Near the border in southern Lebanon, state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the town of Ghandouriyeh, killing at least one person and wounding two others.

The official National News Agency reported additional overnight strikes on the coastal city of Tyre and the border town of Naqoura.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted Israeli troops in six southern Lebanese villages.

The group added that it launched rockets across the border, where air raid sirens were activated, according to the Israeli military’s Home Front Command.

The US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, yesterday backed a truce initiative proposed by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, telling reporters that “matters are not resolved without talking”.

He said, however, he believed Israel “has decided not to stop” striking Lebanon yet.

“That means Lebanon has to decide whether it can meet the Israelis in this case,” the ambassador added.

Lebanon’s health ministry says the war has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million more.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, according to the military.