Israel strikes Hezbollah command centre in Beirut's Dahiya suburb as US-Iran talks hang in balance
Israel struck a Hezbollah command post in the densely populated Dahiya suburb of Beirut on Sunday, killing at least one person, in a move that directly threatens the fragile US-Iran diplomatic track.
The strike
Israeli forces conducted what they called a precise attack on a Hezbollah command centre in the Dahiya neighbourhood of southern Beirut, hours after three projectiles from Lebanon landed in Israeli border communities. The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported at least one dead and four wounded from the missile strike on an apartment building.
The attacked command centre was used by Hezbollah terrorists to promote terrorist plots against citizens of the State of Israel and IDF forces operating in southern Lebanon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Defence Minister Israel Katz had ordered strikes "against terrorist targets of the Hezbollah organisation in response to its fire on Israeli territory."
Hezbollah violation
The Israeli military said Hezbollah's projectiles constituted a flagrant violation of the truce that halted major hostilities two months ago. In the preceding hours Israel had ordered the evacuation of nearly 30 towns in the north amid renewed exchanges across the border.
Hezbollah had limited its attacks in recent days to Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon, avoiding cities in the north. The weekend launches of drones and rockets into Israeli civilian areas broke that pattern and increased domestic pressure on Netanyahu from northern residents, media, and coalition members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
US-Iran talks at risk
The strike landed at an extremely delicate moment in US-Iran negotiations. Iran has unconditionally tied any agreement with Washington to an immediate cessation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Senior Iranian officials had warned that Dahiya, a densely populated zone and the strategic heart of Hezbollah operations, was a red line.
Last week's Israeli strike on Dahiya triggered several salvos of Iranian ballistic missiles against Israel, marking the first direct open confrontation since a US-Iran ceasefire was declared on 8 April. Iran considers that ceasefire to cover Lebanon, a linkage the Israeli government has always rejected.
Trump ally Netanyahu faces the dilemma of delivering on his promise to hit Hezbollah's stronghold while avoiding the collapse of the diplomatic channel.
- US-Iran ceasefire declared; Iran asserts it covers Lebanon.
- Israel strikes Dahiya; Iran responds with ballistic-missile waves, first direct open conflict since truce.
- Hezbollah fires projectiles into northern Israel; Israel strikes Dahiya command centre, at least one killed.
Since March, Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed more than 3,750 people and wounded over 11,600, according to Lebanese sources. Israel currently occupies between 10 and 20 percent of Lebanese territory.
