Israel strikes Lebanon after rocket fire in biggest exchange since ceasefire

BEIRUT – Israel launched strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least seven people, authorities here said, in response to rockets fired from across the border earlier in the day. The exchange was the largest since the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect late last year.

The ceasefire remained in place, but the action fueled concerns that Israel’s resumption of war in Gaza this week could imperil the truce in Lebanon. Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen have also targeted Israel with rockets in recent days.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party, denied responsibility for the rockets. It said it remains committed to the ceasefire.

Rocket fire from Lebanon on Saturday morning triggered sirens in northern Israel for the first time in months. United Nations peacekeepers said four projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israel near the town of Metula around 7:30 a.m. Israel said it was six, three of which entered Israel and were intercepted.

The Israel Defense Forces said the rocket fire “constitutes a blatant violation.” In response, the IDF said, it targeted “dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center.”

“We promised security to the residents of the Galilee – and that is exactly what will be,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. “I have instructed the IDF to respond accordingly.”

The Israeli strikes killed seven people in southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry here said, one of them a child. Forty more were wounded.

Most of the initial wave of strikes hit rural areas, videos and images of the aftermath shared on social media indicated. One video showed a town hit and people rushing through debris to a strike site in the middle of a street.

After the rocket fire, the Lebanese army said, troops on a “search and inspection operation” found and dismantled three primitive launchers on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh. It did not identify who controlled the launchers.

The Israeli airstrikes appeared to expand slightly during a second wave, launched after nightfall in Lebanon.

One strike hit the southern city of Tyre, the first time the city had been targeted since the start of the ceasefire. Other strikes were reported along Lebanon’s border with Syria.

“People are still in Tyre, no one is leaving, but everyone is on high alert,” Mayor Hassan Dbouk told the Washington Post. He said that two residential buildings in the city were partially destroyed by the strike and that rescue teams were searching the debris.

“Hezbollah denies any involvement in the launching of rockets from southern Lebanon,” the group said in a statement. The group said Israel’s “allegations are merely pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon, which have not ceased since the ceasefire was announced.”

Hezbollah, backed by Iran, renewed its attacks on Israel in support of Hamas at the outset of the Gaza war in October 2023. Hamas-led fighters streamed out of Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel. Israel responded with a military campaign to eradicate Hamas.

The regular exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel on the Lebanese border erupted in September into all-out war. Before the sides agreed to a ceasefire in November, more than 4,000 people were killed and 1 million displaced in Lebanon, while 60,000 people were displaced in Israel.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January under significant pressure from the Trump administration. But after weeks of relative quiet allowed the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, Israel this week restarted the war, launching airstrikes that have killed more than 600 Gazans, the Health Ministry there says.

Hezbollah condemned Israel’s return to war in Gaza but did not suggest it would resume hostilities on the border. The last time Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire was in December, and the incident was contained.

The Houthis, another Iranian ally, fired a ballistic missile at Israel on Tuesday for the first time in months. It warned the attacks would continue unless Israel halted its renewed offensive in Gaza.

Lebanese officials cautioned against further escalation. President Joseph Aoun condemned “attempts to drag Lebanon back into a cycle of violence,” according to the country’s official National News Agency. Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said he reached out to Arab counterparts and others in Jordan, Egypt, the European Union, France and the United States to curb the escalation.

“I requested that pressure be exercised on Israel to halt the aggression and escalation and to contain the dangerous situation on the southern border,” Raggi said in a statement.

The ceasefire in Lebanon has been shaky from the start. Israel has maintained troops in southern Lebanon past a mid-February deadline to withdraw and has continued to strike at Hezbollah. Aoun said he considered the exchange Saturday to be part of a “failure to adhere to the details of the ceasefire agreement.”

UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence,” which it warned could risk “serious consequences for the region.” U.N. peacekeepers maintain a presence along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel and have been caught up in the fighting there multiple times since the war escalated last year.

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George reported from Dubai. Bisset reported from London. Rom reported from Tel Aviv.