• Strike on Lebanese army checkpoint claims soldier’s life
• Air strikes hit residential building in Beirut’s southern suburbs
• France calls for Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on UN personnel

BEIRUT: Israeli aggression against Lebanon intensified on Monday as a renewed bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and continued air strikes across the south killed a Lebanese soldier and three international peacekeepers within 24 hours.

The ongoing Israeli onslaught has ravaged the country since Lebanon was pulled into the wider Middle East conflict.

The confrontation began when the resistance group Hezbollah responded on March 2 to the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader by firing rockets at Israeli positions, an initial act of retaliation in what has become a US-Israeli war against Iran.

In response, Israel has unleashed a campaign of large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities report that the Israeli aggression has killed more than 1,200 people.

On Monday, the violence struck deep into the capital, with two strikes hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs. A photographer on the scene confirmed one strike targeted an apartment in a residential building, where Hezbollah resistance members quickly imposed a security cordon.

A security source said that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others were wounded. Lebanon’s health ministry reported one person was killed and 17 were wounded among the civilian population.

The building is located in a residential neighbourhood filled with shops and commercial establishments, many of which were damaged by the Israeli attack. An eyewitness who declined to be named confirmed that victims were evacuated from the site.

The Israeli army, which issued an evacuation order for the area after most residents had already been forced to flee the relentless bombing, claimed it had “begun striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Beirut”.

In south Lebanon, the Israeli military expanded its attacks to include the Lebanese national army and United Nations peacekeepers. The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed and others were wounded after an Israeli attack on one of its checkpoints in the Tyre region.

A military source highlighted the unprecedented nature of the attack, noting the strike was “the first direct targeting of a Lebanese army checkpoint since the start of the war”.

The aggression extended to international forces stationed in the country. The UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, said two of its members were killed in southern Lebanon after an explosion of “unknown origin” destroyed their vehicle near the Bani Haiyyan municipality.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed retaliatory attacks against Israeli positions, including on an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

UN Council meeting sought

France has requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon after the death of three peacekeepers and has made its condemnation of the deaths known to Israel, its foreign minister said on Monday.

France “condemns in the strongest terms the gunfire” that caused the deaths of three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in two incidents, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on the X social media platform.

“France also condemns the serious incidents experienced yesterday (Sunday) by the French contingent in UNIFIL in the Naqura area,” Barrot said.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2026