Israel pounds southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold

(New York Times) Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern outskirts of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, late on Thursday and into the early hours of Friday morning, collapsing buildings and sending residents fleeing.

The Israeli military said late Thursday that it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiya, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the Beirut area that is a stronghold of the Lebanese militant group.

A series of violent strikes then rocked the city, the most intense barrage since a ceasefire in late 2024 paused fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. As explosions shook the city, collapsing at least three buildings, residents fled the city.

Downtown, in the capital, people with nowhere to go huddled around small fires and prepared to pass the night on the street, though sleep seemed impossible.

The intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon exemplify the widening of the fighting in the Middle East, with the United States and Israel beginning an assault against Iran on Saturday and an Iranian retaliation aimed at American allies in the region being felt widely ever since.

Hezbollah joined the fray in recent days, opening up another front in the war. The militants launched projectiles into northern Israel overnight on Sunday for the first time in more than a year and the Israeli military quickly retaliated, declaring that Hezbollah had violated the truce.

Hezbollah said it was responding to Israel’s violations throughout the truce, as well as the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who died in a strike on his compound in Tehran on Saturday.

The Israeli military had been attacking Hezbollah’s infrastructure and capabilities amid the ceasefire, arguing that the Lebanese military was failing to promptly disarm the powerful militant group as the truce deal required.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/israel-bombs-beirut.html