Hezbollah official among four dead in Israeli strike on Beirut

Men stand at the scene of an Israeli strike on a building in Beirut's southern suburbs on April 1, 2025. [AFP] A Hezbollah official handling Palestinian affairs was among four people killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut on Tuesday, Israel and a Hezbollah source said, the second such raid on the capital during a four-month ceasefire. Lebanon's leaders condemned the attack, which came without warning at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Israel previously struck the capital on Friday, hitting the south Beirut stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, after issuing an evacuation warning. Lebanon's health ministry said four people, including a woman, were killed in the latest strike. An AFP journalist said the raid destroyed the top floors of a multi-storey building. Ismael Noureddine, who lives opposite, described "a very big explosion", followed by another, saying his family "couldn't see each other because of all the dust". A source close to Hezbollah, requesting anonymity, told AFP the strike killed Hassan Bdair, Hezbollah's "deputy head for the Palestinian file" who was "at home with his family". Israel's military confirmed it killed Bdair in a joint statement with the security services. It alleged that as liaison with Palestinian militant group Hamas, Bdair "directed Hamas terrorists and assisted them in planning and advancing a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians". 'Any threat' President Joseph Aoun urged Lebanon's allies to support his country's "right to full sovereignty". Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the attack a "clear breach" of the November 27 ceasefire that largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Musawi said the government must "guarantee the safety of the Lebanese". Fellow Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar said the group was exercising "the utmost patience" but warned: "this patience has its limits". Israel has continued to strike southern and eastern Lebanon since the truce, hitting what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement. Jamal Badreddine, 67, who lives just 30 metres (yards) from where Tuesday's strike hit, said that "everyone in the country, from young to old has become the target". Israel's previous strike on the southern suburbs last week came in response to rocket fire from Lebanon which it blamed on Hezbollah despite the group's denials. It was the second unclaimed salvo since the truce, after one on March 22. The Lebanese army has said it located the launch site of Friday's rocket fire, while security forces said they had arrested several suspects. Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October 2023 in support of ally Hamas following the Palestinian group's attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war. After nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, Israel launched an air and ground offensive in September. 'New normal' United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said the "only viable route forward" was by implementing the UN Security Council resolution that ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and served as the foundation of the November truce. Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, accused Israel Tuesday of trying to "assassinate" the resolution. Under 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". The agreement also required Hezbollah to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. "Hezbollah's deterrence has been completely shattered," said Nicholas Blanford a Beirut-based Hezbollah expert and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. "Hezbollah cannot respond militarily. If they do, then the Israelis will just come back and hit even harder," he said. "This is the new normal," he said after Tuesday's strike. Amal Saad, a Lebanese expert on Hezbollah who lectures at Cardiff University, said Hezbollah appeared to be waiting for the government to deal with the Israeli escalation "through its Western allies". But she warned that Hezbollah's "very identity and raison d'etre is being threatened here if it continues to sit on its hands".

Hezbollah official among four dead in Israeli strike on Beirut

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