Israel’s military said on Monday it struck a target in Beirut that killed Hussein Makled, whom Israel described as the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
The attack came after Iran-backed Hezbollah fired into Israel on Sunday in response to reports about the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has since carried out strikes on multiple locations in Lebanon. Before the latest exchanges, an uneasy and imperfect truce had been in place between Israel and Hezbollah.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman urged residents in more than a dozen towns near the de facto border in the south and east to evacuate. ‘We have issued 18 urgent evacuation warnings for buildings used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the following villages and towns,’ IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, alongside a list of locations.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday revised its toll, saying 52 people had been killed and 154 wounded in Israeli strikes on parts of southern Beirut and areas closer to the border, updating an earlier figure of 31 dead. Hezbollah said it had fired into Israel to avenge ‘the pure blood’ of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The barrage was the first of its kind in more than a year and was followed by the most extensive Israeli strikes in that period. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the escalation and named the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, as ‘a target for elimination.’ So far, Israel has not indicated a ground incursion is necessary or likely.
Civilians jammed major roads trying to flee areas seen as at risk overnight and into Monday morning.
In Beirut, the government appeared to move to defuse the situation as explosions were heard in parts of the capital. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam convened a Cabinet meeting and said the state rejects any military actions launched from Lebanese territory ‘outside the framework of its legitimate instructions,’ stressing that decisions of war and peace belong exclusively to the state.
Salam called for the immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah security and military activities as outside the law and urged that the group’s weapons be handed over to the Lebanese state.
Part of the truce brokered last year involved the Lebanese government taking charge of security in the south near the Israeli frontier and pulling Hezbollah forces away from frontline positions. Whether Beirut can assert control over Hezbollah—especially as wider regional tensions rise—remains an open question.
Edited by: Karl Sexton