Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT — Israeli forces carried out airstrikes Monday on Beirut’s southern suburbs in attacks that followed Israeli warnings for people to leave the area.

The Israeli military said in its warning that Hezbollah militants were operating in Haret Hreik, and a short time later at least two strikes sent heavy smoke rising into the sky.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the strikes targeted Hezbollah military command headquarters.

The attack came a day after Hezbollah militants fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in response to an Israeli attack on Beirut that killed at least 29 people.

Some of the Hezbollah strikes reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel and wounded seven people. The assault was one of the largest Hezbollah has mounted since it started firing on Israel more than a year ago in support of Hamas militants, who attacked Israel in October 2023 and have been warring with Israel in Gaza since then.

Negotiations have been ongoing to reach a cease-fire to end the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, with the militant group and the Lebanese government agreeing to a U.S. proposal.

But Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, dampened hopes for a halt to the fighting.

“I am not convinced it is going to happen,” Borrell told reporters Sunday evening after a day of meeting with Lebanese officials. “I do not see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire.”

“I’ve heard so many times that a cease-fire is coming. … It seems once again Israel is putting new conditions,” he said, referring to Israel’s refusal to allow France to be part of an international monitoring group in southern Lebanon as one example of a new condition.

“It seems there is not a strong appetite” from Israel for a halt to the fighting, he said.

Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the current war. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead.

Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Hamas and Hezbollah been designated a terror group by the United States, the U.K. and other Western countries.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.