Israeli airstrikes hit neighborhoods south of Beirut on Monday, the first attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in days, as its army said it had captured two members of the Iran-backed group in southern Lebanon.
The previous Israeli strike had hit the upscale, predominantly Christian area of Hazmieh near Beirut, with Israel saying it targeted a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s foreign operations unit.
AFPTV live broadcasts showed a cloud of smoke in the capital’s southern suburbs, and Lebanon’s National News Agency reported at least five attacks in the area, while Israeli warplanes could be heard across Beirut and its environs.
The Israeli army also announced that it was “attacking Hezbollah’s infrastructure in Beirut” after asking residents to leave the southern neighborhoods first.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli-US attack.
Since then Israel has launched attacks across Lebanon killing at least 1,039 people and sending ground troops to the south of the country.
