Israel strikes Beirut, targeting underground Hezbollah drone facilities

WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV — Israel carried out an air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, after an Israeli military spokesperson issued evacuation orders for four buildings and the area surrounding them.  

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, wrote on X Thursday that the buildings, located in the predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh — specifically in the neighborhoods of Hadath, Haret Hreik and Bourj el-Barajneh — were “near facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah.” 

Videos began circling on social media showing people evacuating these neighborhoods following Israel’s warning.  

Following the strike on Beirut, Adraee posted a second evacuation order for the Ain Qana village in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon. Adraee's post specifies two buildings in the village that he said belong to Hezbollah, and he ordered those in and around the buildings to evacuate to "a distance no less than 500 meters."

Southern Lebanon has been the site of regular Israeli strikes since the November ceasefire, which ordered Hezbollah to retreat north of the Litani River, around 18 miles from the border with Israel. 

In a post to X, the office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun issued a strong condemnation of the strikes, calling them a "blatant violation of an international agreement." He also said the timing of the strikes, which come just a day before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, is "clear evidence of the perpetrator's rejection of the requirements of stability, settlement and just peace in our region."

“Despite the understandings of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” Adraee said, referring to the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that went into effect Nov. 27, 2024, Israel’s military observed that Hezbollah’s air unit “was working to produce thousands of drones under the guidance and financing of Iranian terrorist groups.”  

A statement from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz read, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I instructed the IDF to attack this evening and destroy buildings used for the production and storage of Hezbollah's UAVs in the heart of the Dahiyeh district in Beirut." 

"We consider the Lebanese government as directly responsible for preventing any violation of the ceasefire and any terror acts against the state of Israel," Katz said.

Although the US- and France-brokered ceasefire has held, Israeli strikes have continued, and its military remains in five strategic locations along the border inside Lebanese territory.

At an Arab summit in Baghdad in mid-May, Lebanon's prime minister, Nawaf Salam, denounced the "daily Israeli violations" of Lebanese sovereignty and "the ongoing Israeli occupation of positions" in the south. 

In April, following the last Israeli strike on Beirut, a statement from the office of Aoun read, "Israel's continued undermining of stability will exacerbate tensions and expose the region to real threats to its security and stability." 

This developing story has been updated since its initial publication.