Israel strikes a Beirut suburb, saying it was targeting a Hezbollah drone depot

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israel military launched a strike on suburban Beirut Friday, the first time it has struck Lebanon’s capital city area since it reached a November 2024 ceasefire with the militant group Hezbollah.

Israel said it was targeting a drone storage facility used by Hezbollah in the Dahiyeh suburb, after early morning rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group denied Friday’s rocket fire, as well as a previous attack on March 22, and said it was committed to the ceasefire. No other group has claimed responsibility.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said if there was no peace in Israel’s northern communities, there would be no peace in Beirut either.

The Israeli military warned residents to evacuate Dahiyeh’s Hadath neighborhood prior to the strike.

Plumes of smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs. Between the evacuation warning and the attack, Umm Abbas, 60, told NPR by phone from Hadath: “There’s panic. There are two schools nearby filled with kids. People are screaming left and right, people are crying.”

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in the capital. But Lebanese officials have reported 18 people killed in Israeli drone, air and artillery strikes over the past week.

United Nations peacekeepers tell NPR they have tallied thousands of ceasefire violations, most of them by Israel.

The fighting comes as Israel has renewed its military offensive in the Gaza Strip that started after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Alex Leff reported from Tel Aviv, Lauren Frayer and Jawad Rizkallah from Damascus. Yanal Jabarin contributed reporting from Jerusalem.