Israel pounds Lebanon with heaviest airstrikes of war as Hezbollah pauses attacks

Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, even as the Iran-aligned group paused attacks on northern Israel and Israeli troops ​in Lebanon under a two-week US-Iran ceasefire.

Consecutive explosions shook Beirut, sending smoke billowing across the capital, as Israel’s military said it had launched the largest coordinated strike of the war. More ‌than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites were targeted in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, it said.

The strikes killed 112 people and wounded 837 across the country, said Lebanon’s health ministry.

In Beirut, Reuters reporters saw people on motorcycles picking up wounded and transporting them to hospitals because there were not enough ambulances to get them in time. A group of firefighters worked to put out flames in a car park after one strike left more than a dozen cars scorched and mangled.

The head of Lebanon’s ​syndicate of doctors, Elias Chlela, called in a written statement for “all physicians from all specialities” to head to any hospital they could to offer help. One of Beirut’s biggest hospitals said it needed donations of all blood types.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said overnight that the ceasefire suspending the six-week-old US-Israeli war against Iran did not apply to Lebanon, ⁠and the Israeli military said operations against Hezbollah there would continue.

That position contradicted comments by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key intermediary in the US-Iran ceasefire talks, who had said the truce would include Lebanon.

In a ​statement, Hezbollah condemned what it called Israel’s “barbaric aggression” and said the attacks underscored its “natural and legal right to resist the occupation and respond to its aggression”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US and Israel that it would deliver a “regret-inducing response” if ​attacks on Lebanon did not stop.

Israel had also carried out strikes across southern Lebanon earlier in the day, including artillery shelling and a dawn airstrike on a building near a hospital that killed four people, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported. A strike on the southern city of Sidon killed eight people and wounded 22 others, said Lebanon’s health ministry.

A further strike hit central Beirut in the early evening, NNA reported. The Israeli military said it attacked a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, without providing further details.

‘A separate skirmish’

Lebanon is ​not part of the ‌ceasefire agreement the US has with Iran “because of Hezbollah”, ​but will “get taken ​care of”, US President Donald Trump ⁠told PBS News on ​Wednesday, a day after his ceasefire agreement with Iran.

Asked ​if he was ​okay with Israel’s continued strikes, Trump ‌said, “That’s ⁠a separate skirmish,” PBS News Hour’s Liz Landers said in ​a post ​on ⁠X following the interview.

White House Press ​Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier ​said ⁠that Lebanon was not part of the ⁠deal, ​Axios reported.

Hezbollah stopped attacking Israeli targets early on Wednesday, three Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters.

“Hezbollah was informed that it is part of the ceasefire — so we abided by it, but Israel, as usual, has violated it and committed massacres all across Lebanon,” said senior Hezbollah legislator Ibrahim al-Moussawi.

Another ‌Hezbollah legislator, Hassan ⁠Fadlallah, told Reuters the Israeli strikes were “a grave violation of the ceasefire” and that there would be “repercussions for the entire agreement” if they continued.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut would continue its efforts to ensure that Lebanon was included in any lasting regional peace agreement.

Most of Wednesday’s strikes were in civilian-populated areas, said Israel’s military. Hours before the strike, the military had issued warnings for some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon. No such warning was given for central Beirut, which was also hit.

Following the strikes, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X that Hezbollah had moved out of its traditional Shi’ite stronghold in southern Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood to religiously mixed areas of the ​city, including in the north.

Addressing Hezbollah, he said, Israel’s military ​will “pursue you and act with great force against ⁠you wherever you are”.

‘Lebanon can’t take it any more’

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israel’s air and ground campaign across Lebanon, including more than 130 children ​and more than 100 women, since ⁠2 March, when Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israel in solidarity with Tehran.

Israel has issued evacuation orders covering around 15% of Lebanese territory since then, mostly in the south and in the suburbs south of Beirut. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel has also pledged to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River as part of a “security zone” that it says is intended to protect its northern residents.

“Hopefully, a ceasefire will be reached,” said Ahmed Harm, a ⁠54-year-old man displaced ​from Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Lebanon can’t take it any more. The country is collapsing economically, and everything is collapsing.”

Outside a school sheltering displaced people ​in Sidon, pillows and blankets were piled onto cars as some families held out hope of returning home soon.

Local mayor Mustafa al-Zein said more than 28,000 ​people were sheltering in the area as of Tuesday night. DM

US-Iran ceasefire: what we know

Here is what we know following Tuesday evening's dramatic reversal by US President Donald Trump of his threats to attack Iran's civilian infrastructure.

Is there actually a ceasefire?

It’s unclear.
Iran and the US agreed on Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, but fighting was still ​taking place on Wednesday.

Israel launched its biggest attacks yet on Lebanon, targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, destroying buildings and ‌killing dozens of people without warning, according to Lebanese authorities.

Iran said it was considering strikes against Israel in response.

Iran also struck oil facilities in neighbouring Gulf countries, including a huge pipeline in Saudi Arabia that has been used to bypass the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, according to an oil industry source. Kuwait, ​Bahrain and the UAE also reported missile and drone strikes.

The US said it had stopped its attacks on Iran but is ​ready to resume fighting if efforts to reach a more lasting peace fail.

Is the Strait of Hormuz ⁠open?

Not yet.

Iranian state TV said a first vessel had transited the global oil chokepoint with Tehran’s permission following the ceasefire, but ​shipping sources said that the Iranian navy was threatening ships with destruction if they tried to pass.

Iran might lift its blockade on Thursday ​or Friday ahead of peace talks, according to a senior Iranian official, but ships would still require Tehran’s permission to pass.

Trump said the two-week ceasefire requires Iran to open the strait, but Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Washington had agreed in principle to continued Iranian control.

Marine traffic data showed that ​two Greek-owned vessels and a Chinese bulk carrier had passed through the strait since early Wednesday. Iran has previously made safe-passage agreements ​with several countries, including India and Iraq. German shipper Hapag-Lloyd said it could take at least six weeks for traffic to return to prewar levels.

Are ‌oil prices ⁠falling?

Yes.

Oil prices tumbled below $100 per barrel following the ceasefire announcement, as traders anticipated that the 20% of world supply that has been throttled by the conflict could become available again.

Both Iran and the US are claiming victory for now, but they enter peace talks with starkly different agendas.

Iran is demanding an end to all fighting in the region, including Lebanon; withdrawal of all ⁠US forces ​from the region; a lifting of international sanctions; a right to continue to ​enrich uranium; and continued control over the strait.

The US, for its part, is calling for Iran to halt enrichment of uranium and remove its existing stocks; curb its ​ballistic missile programme; and cut off funding for regional allies, among other demands. DM