The Israeli army said yesterday it struck a southern Beirut building being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hizbollah.
The attack was a further test of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed group.
A huge plume of smoke billowed from the building, Reuters live footage showed, almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the Hadath neighbourhood.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hizbollah’s precision missiles “posed a significant threat to the State of Israel”. There was no immediate comment from Hizbollah.
The latest strike adds to strains on the US-brokered ceasefire that ended last year’s devastating conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.
“Today’s strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, UN Special Co-ordinator for Lebanon, said on X.
“We urge all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the cessation of hostilities understanding and the implementation of SCR 1701,” she added, referring to the UN Security Council resolution that ended the month-long war between Israel and Hizbollah in 2006.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the US and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
“Israel’s continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability,” he said in a statement.
Earlier this month an Israeli air strike killed four people, including a Hizbollah official, in Beirut’s southern suburbs – the second Israeli strike on a Hizbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.
The attacks on southern Beirut have resumed at a time of broader escalation in hostilities in the region, with Israel having restarted Gaza strikes after a two-month truce and the US hitting the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen in a bid to get them to stop attacking Red Sea shipping.
Israel has dealt severe blows to Hizbollah in the war, killing thousands of its fighters, destroying much of its arsenal and eliminating its top leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah.
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