Israel strikes Beirut suburb after Hezbollah's retaliatory attack over Khamenei's death

The Israeli military launched airstrikes early on Monday targeting Beirut's southern suburbs, an area known as Dahiyeh, considered a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Earlier, Hezbollah said it launched “missiles and a swarm of drones” at an Israeli army base south of Haifa “in revenge” for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It marks the first rocket fire by the Iran-backed militant group since November 2024, when Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire.

The Hezbollah attack targeted Israel’s Mishmar HaCarmel missile-defense site at midnight Monday, Hezbollah said in a statement read on al-Manar TV.

“The Israeli enemy cannot continue its aggression, ongoing for fifteen months, without receiving a warning response aimed at halting this aggression and withdrawing from occupied Lebanese territory,” Hezbollah said.

Israel’s military said earlier it had intercepted a projectile fired from Lebanon, and that others fell in open areas.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon “an irresponsible and suspicious act.”

“We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures, and we will take all necessary measures to stop those responsible and protect the Lebanese people,” Salam said in a post on X. 

The Hezbollah strikes, and the Israeli response, marks the first such exchange since a ceasefire in November 2024. 

Witnesses and media reports described multiple explosions lighting up the night sky, with at least two to eight strikes confirmed in the area. 

Lebanese security sources indicated that the targets included suspected Hezbollah infrastructure, though no immediate details on casualties or specific damage were released by official channels. 

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hezbollah of acting on behalf of Iran, framing the rocket launches as an attempt to target Israeli civilians amid broader regional turmoil, BBC reported.

This incident occurs against the backdrop of heightened Middle East tensions following the confirmed killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli airstrikes on March 1, 2026. 

Iran has vowed retaliation, and Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy, has publicly promised to confront both the US and Israel over the assassination, though it had initially refrained from direct action, according to Al Jazeera.

The strikes in Beirut have sparked fears of a renewed escalation, with Lebanese residents reporting displacement from border areas and increased military activity in southern Lebanon.

With inputs from AFP