Shafaq News- Beirut (Updated at 17:10)

Israel on Sunday struck a “high-value” target in Beirut's southern suburb (Dahiyeh), the Israeli military announced, claiming the attack as a response to Hezbollah firing rockets toward Israeli settlements earlier today.

Three missiles struck two apartments in the southern suburb, according to Israeli media, while local sources told Shafaq News there may be casualties at the scene.

Israeli outlets also reported that the attack targeted a Hezbollah facility rather than a specific individual, with security agencies still assessing whether the site had been occupied at the time of the strike. The operation, they added, was aimed at the location itself and was not intended as an assassination.

Israeli Army Radio described the strike as a “deterrence message,” although it also quoted a military source as saying residents of northern areas had been instructed to prepare for a possible Hezbollah response in the coming hours.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz had previously declared that Beirut's southern suburb would no longer be exempt from Israeli military action if Hezbollah continued attacks on “Israeli communities.” However, strikes on the area were delayed following what Israeli media described as a “tense” call between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who has been seeking to preserve the ongoing negotiations to end the war with Iran, as Tehran insists on ending the war in Lebanon as part of any agreement.

Israel and Hezbollah have continued exchanging attacks despite a ceasefire framework announced in Washington on June 3 following direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, which conditions a comprehensive ceasefire on a halt to Hezbollah attacks and the withdrawal of its operatives from south of the Litani River. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected the framework, describing it as “capitulation,” while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called it Lebanon's “final chance” to end the war.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli attacks between March 2 and June 7 had killed 3,613 people and wounded 11,072 others, including women and children. 

Read more: Israel's war fell on Christians and Shiites in Southern Lebanon with no distinction