Three dead as Israel says strikes Beirut’s suburbs
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• Israeli forces say two drones from Lebanon hit northern Israel
• Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon, not at northern Israeli communities
BEIRUT: Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, killing three people, in response to what it said was Hezbollah fire at northern Israel, while its military also carried out broader strikes on southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a strike hit an apartment in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh.
An AFP correspondent saw smoke and dust rising near a heavily damaged apartment as debris covered the street and people searched for survivors, with panic in the area after the strike along a busy road filled with shops.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency reported three dead and six wounded.
Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned that Israel would strike south Beirut if Hezbollah targets northern Israeli communities, a position they say has the backing of Washington.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said two drones, suspected to have been launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon, struck northern Israel on Sunday but caused no casualties. “Two impacts of suspicious aerial targets in Israeli territory were identified near the Israel-Lebanon border. No injuries were reported,” the military said.
Israel’s military had struck Beirut’s southern suburbs last week after saying it had intercepted rockets launched by Hezbollah into Israeli territory.
Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that the military “carried out strikes in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut against targets belonging to the Hezbollah, in response to Hezbollah’s firing toward Israeli territory”.
Two far-right Israeli ministers earlier Sunday had called for strikes.
“The shooting at northern communities is a test of the Dahiyeh Doctrine that the prime minister declared. I call on him to implement it decisively and firmly, and to bring down buildings in Dahiyeh,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X.
“For every drone — a missile; for every violation — fire; for every UAV — Dahiyeh must tremble,” wrote National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X.
Lebanon’s NNA also reported Israeli strikes on more than 20 locations in the country’s south, including the city of Nabatieh.
The strikes came both before and after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for almost 30 south Lebanon locations ahead of raids there.
Israel’s military activity in recent days has been focused on the region around Nabatieh.
A military source told AFP on Sunday that a small Lebanese army force which had been present in Kfar Tibnit, near Nabatieh, evacuated its position there a day earlier after an Israeli incursion into the village.
Requesting anonymity, the source emphasised that the Lebanese army was however still present at the Nabatieh barracks.
An AFP correspondent saw around a dozen vehicles, including some military trucks and heavy machinery as well as civilian vehicles, heading out of Nabatieh on Sunday.
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2026
