Israeli air strikes target Hezbollah in southern Beirut

Israel pounded Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, with a pre-dawn wave of strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, the military said, after it had called on residents in several areas to evacuate.

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

Since then, Israel has struck targets across Lebanon and deployed ground forces in the country’s south.

In a short statement, the army said its forces were “currently striking Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets in Beirut”.

Near the border in southern Lebanon, state media reported an Israeli airstrike on a house in the town of Ghandouriyeh that killed at least one person and wounded two others.

The official National News Agency also cited 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 villages in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese group said it also launched rockets across the border, setting off air-raid sirens, according to the Israeli military’s Home Front Command.

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

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

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

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

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