The Israeli military said Sunday that it had struck a Hezbollah target on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, an escalation that threatened to imperil U.S. peace talks with Iran and drew the ire of President Trump.<\/p>\n
Hours after the attack, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the strikes \u201cshould not have happened\u201d and urged Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, to exercise restraint.<\/p>\n
The violence in Lebanon on Sunday complicated an already delicate moment as Mr. Trump and Iran appeared to be edging toward signing a framework peace agreement. It also underscored how the conflict in Lebanon has become a sticking point in those talks.<\/p>\n
Iran has insisted that any agreement with the United States extend to the conflict in Lebanon. Fighting there erupted after Hezbollah fired at Israel in solidarity with Tehran soon after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February.<\/p>\n
But any deal that includes Lebanon would depend on both the United States being able to compel Israel to wind down its military campaign there and Iran\u2019s cooperation in restraining its proxy, Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are part of the ongoing negotiations.<\/p>\n
That thorny dynamic was on full display on Sunday, with the Israeli strikes threatening to create a broader flare-up if Iran decided to take retaliatory action against Israel, as it did a week ago under similar circumstances.<\/p>\n
Two Israeli defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters, said there had been no coordination with the United States before the strike, only a notification to the U.S. military a few minutes before it began.<\/p>\n
The two officials said that the assessment within Israel\u2019s military intelligence corps was that such a bombing could be interpreted internationally as an Israeli attempt to disrupt the emerging deal with Iran and could create tension between Israel and the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a joint statement that they had instructed the military to carry out the strike.<\/p>\n
Israel said the strikes were in retaliation for Hezbollah\u2019s launch of drones and rockets toward northern Israel. While Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon on Sunday, it did not say that it had fired across the border into Israeli territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael will not tolerate firing at its territory,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Katz said in the statement.<\/p>\n
The attack \u2014 which hit Dahiya, a suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway \u2014 killed three people and injured 16, according to Lebanese health authorities. <\/p>\n
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s lead negotiator in the talks, condemned Israel\u2019s strike on Dahiya. He suggested that the attack undermined the credibility of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you neither have the will nor the ability to execute your commitments, talking about the continuation of the path is not possible,\u201d Mr. Ghalibaf said on X, referring to the negotiations between Iran and the United States to end the war.<\/p>\n
The military said the target was a Hezbollah command center. That claim could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n
The fighting was the latest sign that a series of U.S.-brokered cease-fires in Lebanon have all but collapsed. While a temporary cease-fire brought some respite in April, the truce has completely unraveled since.<\/p>\n
Israel has continued to bombard southern and eastern Lebanon as its forces have pushed deeper into the country. Hezbollah has continued to attack Israeli troops in Lebanon and fired rockets into Israel.<\/p>\n
Over more than three months of Israeli-Hezbollah exchanges, more than 3,700 Lebanese and at least 30 Israelis have been killed, according to the authorities in both countries.<\/p>\n
Israeli aircraft launched additional attacks on Sunday in the Tyre district and other areas in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media reports. Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its operatives near the city of Tyre.<\/p>\n
Late Saturday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a rocket launched by Hezbollah at Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon and had identified several additional launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel and the United States jointly launched a war against Iran in late February. Soon after, Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with its patron, Tehran, igniting a new war in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the United States announced that Israel and the Lebanese government \u2014 which does not control Hezbollah \u2014 had reached a new cease-fire agreement. That deal would have required Hezbollah to unilaterally stop all attacks, while placing no explicit obligations on Israel, such as withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
But Hezbollah, which was not included in U.S.-brokered talks, rejected the deal, saying that it amounted to surrender for the group.<\/p>\n
Now, the fighting in Lebanon could lead to further destabilization in the region.<\/p>\n