At least 52 people were killed and 154 injured on Monday in Israeli strikes across Lebanon, after Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing a barrage of missiles into Israel overnight.
A series of explosions was heard across Beirut in the early hours, as Israel targeted three locations in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including sites in Haret Hreik and the Jamous neighbourhood.
The Israeli military then also ordered the eviction of residents from at least 53 towns and villages across south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, warning of impending attack. The eviction orders and attacks prompted many people to flee, typically from areas still struggling to rebuild and dealing with the trauma of the most recent round of Israel-Hezbollah fighting in the autumn of 2024.
Throughout Monday, extensive attacks continued across the country including the Bekaa and the south, as well as several more strikes in Beirut. An initial count of 31 dead - 20 in Beirut and 11 in south Lebanon - was raised to 54 on Monday evening.
At an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday chaired by President Joseph Aoun, the government ordered a "ban" on Hezbollah military activities after its rocket attack on Israel.
This "necessitates the immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah’s security and military activities as being outside the law, and obliging it to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state", Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said.
He said security services were ordered to prevent non-state military actions being carried out on Lebanese soil, and to arrest those who do not comply.
US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles and a swarm of drones at an Israeli missile defence site south of Haifa.
The Israeli army said it had intercepted one rocket fired at the northern part of the country from Lebanon, while others landed in open areas. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The rocket attack is “revenge for the blood of the supreme leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei”, Hezbollah said in a statement.
Mr Aoun said the overnight rockets launched at Israel by Hezbollah undermined the efforts by the Lebanese state to keep itself out of the current regional escalation.
Mr Aoun added that while he condemned the Israeli attacks on Lebanon that were launched in response, he warned against using the country as a "platform for proxy wars", referring to Iran-backed Hezbollah.
"We warn that persisting in using Lebanon once again as a platform for proxy wars in which we have no involvement will expose our country to risks once more, the responsibility for which falls on the parties that ignored the repeated calls to preserve security and stability in the country," Mr Aoun said in a statement on X.
It is the first time Hezbollah has fired rockets at Israel since the November 2024 ceasefire. Although Israel has carried out near-daily strikes on Lebanon since then and continues to occupy at least five military positions on Lebanese territory, the group has largely refrained from responding.
The Iran-backed group, depleted by its last war with Israel, had signalled restraint in the event of a broader confrontation. But it had also indicated that any attack on Mr Khamenei would be a red line for them. He was killed on Saturday.
“The resistance leadership has always affirmed that the continuation of Israeli aggression and the assassination of our leaders, youth and people gives us the right to defend ourselves and respond at the appropriate time and place,” Hezbollah said.
“This response constitutes legitimate defence, and it is the responsibility of the relevant officials and parties to put an end to the Israeli-American aggression against Lebanon.”
The Israeli army said it had begun striking Hezbollah across Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s projectile fire, saying it will “operate against Hezbollah’s decision to join the campaign” and is prepared for an “all-fronts scenario and for combating any threats”.
Motorway traffic from southern Lebanon towards the north was blocked as thousands of residents fled the border area.
In Beirut’s densely populated southern suburb of Dahiyeh, residents rushed into cars seeking safer areas. Local media also reported Israeli strikes in several villages in south Lebanon.
All schools in Lebanon have been closed on Monday, with some immediately repurposed as displacement centres, following the Israeli attack across Lebanon and mass eviction orders for vast swathes of the country.
Mr Salam had called the rocket attacks from south Lebanon an “irresponsible and suspicious act that endangers Lebanon’s security and safety and gives Israel pretexts to continue its attacks on it”.
“We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures, and we will take all necessary measures to stop the perpetrators and protect the Lebanese people,” he said in a statement on X.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in January that the group would not be “neutral” in the event of a regional war – but stopped short of committing to military intervention.
