Israel’s military said on Monday it carried out a strike in Beirut that killed Hussein Makled, who served as the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
The strikes came after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group fired into Israel on Sunday in response to the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has conducted various strikes on parts of Lebanon since then. Prior to the exchanges, a delicate and imperfect truce had been in place between Israel and Hezbollah.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman called on residents in more than a dozen locations near the de facto border in the south and east to leave the areas. “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, along with a list of locations.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday reported 52 people killed and 154 wounded amid Israeli strikes on sites in southern Beirut and nearer the border areas further south, updating an earlier statement that said 31 people had died. Hezbollah said it had fired into Israel to avenge “the pure blood” of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei.
It was the first barrage of Hezbollah missiles of its kind in over a year and was followed by the most extensive Israeli strikes in that period. Israel said it held Hezbollah responsible for the escalation and called the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, a “target for elimination.” So far, Israel has not indicated that a ground incursion is necessary or likely.
Civilians jammed major Lebanese roads trying to flee areas perceived to be at risk, first overnight Sunday into Monday and continuing past dawn.
Lebanon’s government in Beirut appeared to be trying to defuse the fighting as more explosions were heard in parts of the capital. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held a Cabinet meeting and said the state rejected any military actions launched from Lebanese territory “outside the framework of its legitimate instructions” and affirmed that the decision of war and peace is exclusively in the state’s hands.
Salam said this “necessitates the immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah’s security and military activities as being outside the law, and obliging it to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state.”
Part of the uneasy truce brokered last year involved Lebanon’s government taking control of security in the south near the Israeli frontier and pulling Hezbollah forces away from the area. Whether the Lebanese government can actually control Hezbollah—particularly as fighting in Iran ratchets up tension—remains an open question.
Edited by: Karl Sexton