Israel strikes Beirut suburb ahead of expected US-Iran peace deal, at least three dead

Israeli strike on Beirut

An Israeli military strike hit Hezbollah's command centre in the Dahieh neighbourhood of Beirut on Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding several others. Lebanon's state media reported at least three dead and 15 injured, while civil defence crews recovered three bodies and six wounded from a five-storey apartment building with ground-floor shops. The Israel Defense Forces said it was responding to Hezbollah launching three projectiles toward northern Israel earlier in the day, which the IDF called a "blatant ceasefire violation."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement: "Israel will not tolerate firing into its territory." Hezbollah said it had fired missiles and drones at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon but did not directly address the cross-border launches. An Associated Press photographer described the two lowest floors as most heavily damaged, and residents of the southern suburbs, many of whom had recently returned, were seen fleeing.

US-Iran peace deal at risk

President Donald Trump had said the US-Iran deal "is scheduled to get signed tomorrow" on Saturday, but Iran cast doubt on the timing. After Sunday's strike, Iran's chief negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned the US that the attack demonstrated a lack of will or ability to fulfil commitments.

“The Zionist aggression on Dahieh has once again shown that America either does not have the will or the ability to fulfill its obligations. You cannot gain concessions by giving the regime a green light. The good cop, bad cop routine has become old. If you do not have the will or the ability to fulfill your commitments, then there is no basis for talking about continuing down this path.”

Brig Gen Mohammad Jafar Assadi, deputy commander of Iran's emergency headquarters, said the attack "will not go unanswered."

Trump later wrote on Truth Social that the strike "should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran" and urged no further attacks by any party.

“Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process. … This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let's not blow it!”

Israel sidelined in talks

Israeli officials view the US-Iran deal as a major setback and have insisted they will continue striking Hezbollah regardless. Netanyahu defied US pressure to ease Lebanon strikes while a deal is near. Far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich called for intensified attacks, with Ben-Gvir demanding a missile for every Hezbollah drone and the killing of "a thousand" fighters for every soldier harmed.

Iran has long demanded that any wider agreement include a halt to fighting in Lebanon, but Hezbollah rejected a US-brokered truce earlier this month, calling it surrender.

Warnings expand across southern Lebanon

The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for 29 towns in southern Lebanon, including Nabatieh and Sidon districts, instructing residents to move north of the Zahrani River. An airstrike hit the town of Froun in Bint Jbeil shortly after. Al Jazeera correspondents noted anxiety in Lebanon that Israel might escalate as it did after the April 7 ceasefire, when it struck more than 100 locations in the space of ten minutes and more than 350 people were killed, the deadliest day of the war.

Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, noted that the last time the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, Israel "made it extremely clear" Lebanon was not part of it by heavy bombardment.

“The concern is that that is their stance once again, that they’re not party to this deal, that they will not be withdrawing.”