The location of the Israeli strike on a building in Hadath, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on March 28, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L’Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT —For the first time since the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended an attrition war that started on Oct. 8, 2023, Israel carried out an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday. After several "warning" drone strikes, the Israeli air force targeted a building in Hadath, an area where residents had been evacuated around an hour prior, following evacuation warnings posted on social media by the Israeli army.
The attack followed an initial rocket fire from Lebanon toward Israel last Saturday and another earlier today, both of which remain unclaimed with Hezbollah denying responsibility for them.
Salam calls for end of Israeli violations
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, describing them as a "dangerous escalation." He criticized the attacks on civilian and residential areas, including locations housing schools and universities, and reiterated the need for Israel to cease violating the cease-fire agreement. Salam also called for Israel's withdrawal from the occupied positions in southern Lebanon "as soon as possible."
Salam also issued a warning against a potential military escalation at Lebanon's southern border and summoned General Rodolphe Haykal, the Lebanese army's commander-in-chief, to brief him on the situation. He instructed Haykal to swiftly investigate the rocket fire from Lebanon on Friday, describing the act as "irresponsible" and "a threat to the country's security and stability."
He further reiterated his call for all weapons of militias and partisan groups to be handed over to the army.
In his efforts to address the crisis, Salam reached out to President Joseph Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Morgan Ortagus, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and various Arab and international officials, according to a statement from the Grand Serail.
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber also condemned the Israeli strikes, emphasizing that Lebanon has fully adhered to the cease-fire agreement. He accused Israel of using the rocket fire as a pretext for continuing its aggression. Jaber called on the international sponsors of the cease-fire to apply more pressure on Israel to respect the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
Aoun and Macron denounce
President Joseph Aoun, during a meeting in Paris, informed French President Emmanuel Macron, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the Israeli strike on Hadath was part of "Israel’s ongoing violations of the cease-fire." Aoun called on the international community to intervene, urging Israel to honor the agreement that Lebanon has fully respected.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron said the Israeli strikes in Lebanon were "unacceptable" and "violating the cease-fire,’ adding that "the strikes are unilateral actions that betray a promise made and play into Hezbollah's hands."
President Macron described the Israeli airstrikes as "unacceptable" and a violation of the cease-fire, emphasizing that the attacks "betray a promise made and play into Hezbollah's hands." Macron pledged to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming days regarding the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. He added that the framework of the cease-fire, agreed upon by both Lebanon and Israel, must be respected, and that Israel had unilaterally violated it without providing any evidence of provocation, AFP reported.
Geagea calls for accountability
In response to this escalating situation, Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces, took to X to urge the Lebanese government for clarity on the investigation into the March 22 rocket fire, warning that it could provoke a "deadly Israeli response." Geagea expressed frustration over the "tired" narrative of Israeli aggression and questioned the ministries of Defense and Interior about the findings of the investigations. He urged authorities to disclose who was responsible for the rocket launch.
"In any case, it is absolutely unacceptable to expose the residents of the South or the southern suburbs of Beirut to what they are currently experiencing," Geagea stated. He also argued that these incidents give Israel more justification for continuing its attacks on Lebanon.
