A city that had been spared is no longer safe.
Israel struck the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday in what the Israel Defense Forces described as a “targeted” attack on an Iranian militia commander. Thick black smoke rose over Dahieh, the densely populated southern suburb that serves as Hezbollah’s stronghold in the city.
Israeli media reported the target was Ali al-Husni, head of the missile force in the Imam Hossein Division, an Iranian militia allied to Hezbollah. It was only the second Israeli strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took effect last month. Israel had previously spared the capital at the request of US President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expanded ground operation following Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and on civilians in the north. On Wednesday, Israel issued its largest evacuation order since the ceasefire began, ordering residents north of the Zahrani River, roughly 40 kilometres from the Israeli border. The order covered approximately 300 towns and villages, about 14 percent of Lebanese territory.
The human cost is mounting. At least 11 people died in Israeli strikes on Tyre and surrounding areas on Thursday morning alone. In the city of Saida, a missile tore through a residential building at 2:40 a.m., killing four people. One of the victims had rented the apartment for three years.
The landlord, Hanaa Jamaa, 46, wept as she spoke to journalists. “We are not with Hezbollah and we are not with Israel,” she said. “We just want peace.”
At least 3,224 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began on 2 March, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel reports 23 soldiers and four civilians killed on its side over the same period.
The escalation now threatens to derail ongoing US and Iran negotiations in Islamabad. Iran insists any deal must cover Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to fight Hezbollah regardless.
For the people of Beirut, diplomacy feels very far away.
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