Israel strikes Beirut suburbs, threatening already shaky ceasefire

BEIRUT — Israeli forces said they killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces on Wednesday in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, in the first attack near the Lebanese capital since the start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last month.

The Israel Defense Forces identified the dead commander as Ahmed Balout in a statement on Thursday. Initially, local authorities said only that at least one person died in the strike. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, has yet to comment on the attack or the identity of Israel’s target.

“No terrorist has immunity; the long arm of Israel will reach every enemy and murderer,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement Wednesday.

The strike hit a 10-story building in the Haret Hreik neighborhood next to a school, according to satellite imagery and open-source material. Photos of the aftermath showed half the building leveled and excavator machines digging beneath the rubble.

The attack threatened the already shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, mediated by the United States, that took effect April 17. The sides have continued to exchange fire in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah has launched projectiles at Israeli territory. But Israel had refrained from striking Beirut.

About half a million people live in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Most were forced to flee into the city after Israeli evacuation warnings in early March. Those who cautiously returned to the suburbs at the start of the ceasefire were once again checking into Beirut hotels Wednesday night.

The U.S. announced the truce days after Lebanese and Israeli diplomats met in Washington for their first direct talks in decades. It was extended by three weeks after the sides met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. A third round of talks is slated for next week, according to a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the department. Both Israel and Lebanon will be represented by their ambassadors in Washington as well as working-level officials.

Haret Hreik is a residential area that houses many of Hezbollah’s main offices. In 2024, the Israel Defense Forces leveled at least four large buildings in the area to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah. The IDF killed Radwan leader Ali Tabatabai in a strike there late last year.

The Radwan Forces, formed in 2006, are Hezbollah’s elite fighting unit. Many of its members have been hardened battling the Islamic State in Syria. Its name honors the slain Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah, who fought under the nom de guerre “Radwan.” The IDF said in late April that a Radwan fighter had surrendered and was taken in for questioning.

The current round of fighting started in early March when Hezbollah responded to the killing of Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the militants’ most important sponsor, by launching a salvo of rockets and drones at Israel.

At least 2,700 people have been killed since, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Twenty Israelis — 17 soldiers, a security person and two civilians — have died, according to Israeli authorities.

Soroka reported from Tel Aviv. Adam Taylor in Rome contributed to this report.