Israel Strikes Beirut Dahieh Overnight After Intercepting Hezbollah Launches; Ceasefire Operationally Broken
Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight Sunday-Monday after intercepting Hezbollah launches into northern Israel. The strikes targeted two apartments in two buildings in Dahieh, according to Lebanon’s state-run NNA. The Wednesday-signed conditional ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is now operationally broken five days in. Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem had formally rejected the truce on Thursday and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The Trump-engineered Israel-Hezbollah cessation announced last Tuesday has effectively collapsed.
Dahieh is Hezbollah’s political-administrative heartland and houses the movement’s leadership infrastructure. Israeli strikes on Dahieh in 2024 killed Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and effectively decapitated the movement’s political wing. The Monday-morning strikes are the third sustained Israeli targeting of Dahieh since the post-Nasrallah ceasefire framework was supposed to lock in. The Israel-Lebanon deal was made through US-brokered talks in Washington that did not include Hezbollah, a structural flaw at the heart of the ceasefire. The Israeli defence minister said last Thursday the deal grants Israel the freedom to strike Beirut if conditions warrant; the Monday strikes operationalise that framing.