Israeli strike on Beirut suburb kills 3 — health ministry
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Beirut, Lebanon — An Israeli strike on a southern suburb of Beirut has killed at least three people and wounded seven more, the Lebanese health ministry said Tuesday.
"The Israeli enemy raid on the southern suburbs left, according to a new report, three martyrs and seven wounded," the ministry said, quoted by Lebanon's National News Agency.
Israel's military said Tuesday the strike on the southern suburb targeted a Hizbollah operative, the second such strike since a November ceasefire.
The latest strike comes after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week Israel would "strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat" after rocket fire prompted it to bomb south Beirut for the first time during a fragile four-month-old truce with Hizbollah.
Hizbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes on the city.
"This aggression must end. We cannot allow this to continue," Qassem said in a televised address.
The Tehran-backed Lebanese movement denied involvement in the rocket fire that Israel said prompted it to strike Beirut.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in the months since the ceasefire, hitting what it says are Hizbollah targets that violated the agreement.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems "strategic".
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