Israel said Iran has launched missiles at it in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, complicating mediation efforts for a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the launch of missiles, and multiple explosions were heard in northern Israel on Sunday.
Israel’s military said it was working on intercepting the missiles, but “the defence is not hermetic”, adding that sirens sounded in several areas of the country.
Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel on Sunday struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down its attacks on Lebanon.
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Israel called the strikes retaliation for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah firing at northern Israel earlier in the day.
Israel’s attack on Beirut came a few days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in UN-hosted talks, though Hizbullah rejected the deal.
The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Middle East, even as Pakistan tries to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.
A senior Iranian official had earlier promised a “decisive and painful” response to Israel’s air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
After the attack on Beirut on Sunday, Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s foreign policy and national security committee, wrote on X: “We will give a decisive and painful response to the Zionist regime’s attack on the suburbs ... Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight.” Iran considers Israel to be occupied Palestine.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said US bases and assets in the region had become “legitimate targets” after the Israeli strike.
“They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon they showed that they only understand the language of power,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
Last week, Tehran threatened that any Israeli attack on Beirut would be considered a violation of the US-Iran ceasefire and would be met with an attack on Israel. Israeli media said on Sunday that a limited attack on Israel’s territory by Iran and Hizbullah was anticipated after the strike.
The attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, hit two apartments in two separate buildings, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, killing two people and wounding 11, according to an initial toll.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said the Israeli military had struck “terrorist headquarters” in the southern suburbs “in response to Hizbullah’s firing at Israeli territory”. Israel said it had intercepted Hizbullah rocket fire at northern Israel on Sunday morning, though the armed group did not claim responsibility for the attacks.
[ Iran insists any US-Israel ceasefire must cover conflict in LebanonOpens in new window ]
The strikes showered the surrounding streets with rubble and caused a wave of people to flee the southern suburbs in fear of further strikes.
The strikes on Beirut came just days after Hizbullah rejected a ceasefire proposal agreed by the Lebanese government and Israel. Washington had previously asked Israel to not strike Beirut further, though Israeli media reported that the US had been informed before Sunday’s strike.
The latest bout of fighting in Lebanon started on March 2nd when Hizbullah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering an Israeli invasion. Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,613 people in Lebanon, while Hizbullah has killed at least 30 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and three Israeli civilians.
The skirmishes in Lebanon have been an obstacle for Iran-US negotiations, as Tehran insists that Lebanon be included in a broader ceasefire deal. US president Donald Trump told NBC News he was not demanding that Lebanon be part of any peace deal with Iran, claiming again that such an agreement, which has so far proved elusive, was near.
Before the strikes on Sunday, Israel had issued a forced evacuation order for most of the city of Tyre, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, which is hosting thousands of people displaced from villages in the surrounding area. Plumes of smoke were later seen rising from the city.
Israel also carried out air strikes across the south of Lebanon, while Hizbullah claimed responsibility for rocket and artillery barrages against Israeli troops in the Nabatieh area. Fighting has been concentrated around the city of Zawtar al-Sharqiya after Israel took Beaufort Castle along the route to Nabatieh, a large city in south Lebanon that it has been encircling.
[ Iran reaffirms support for Hizbullah with wider peace deal in doubtOpens in new window ]
On Saturday, the Israeli military killed two Lebanese army soldiers and an army captain in a strike on their vehicle. The Lebanese army is not party to the Hizbullah-Israel war.
The government of Lebanon and Israel are negotiating directly in Washington in an attempt to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hizbullah is not participating in the talks and in recent days has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that does not include a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and an end to Israeli strikes across the country, not just in Beirut.
Israelis have been bracing for an attack by Iran, reviving fears of a continuing conflict that appeared to have subsided after the temporary ceasefire was reached in April.
At the same time, Israeli forces continue to carry out strikes across Gaza, where a fragile truce brokered last October has done little to halt military operations in the besieged territory.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes on a Hamas-run police station and a vehicle in the Gaza Strip killed at least nine people and wounded 20 others, health officials said, as mediators began new efforts to salvage the truce. – Guardian/AP
