Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ordered the military to strike targets in Beirut's southern suburbs, escalating the conflict in Lebanon as fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah continues to intensify despite a ceasefire reached in mid-April.
"Following repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist group Hezbollah and the attacks against our cities and citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to attack terrorist targets in the Dahiyeh district in Beirut," Netanyahu's office said in a statement, reported Reuters.
Dahiyeh, a densely populated southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold and has been a repeated target of Israeli strikes during previous rounds of conflict.
According to Reuters, the renewed military action comes after Israeli troops and Hezbollah have continued trading fire since the mid-April ceasefire, with Hezbollah increasingly resorting to cheap, easy-to-assemble kamikaze drones that are difficult for air defence systems to intercept.
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The drones have proven lethal, killing several Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
The fighting in Lebanon represents the broadest spillover of the wider Iran war. Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel on March 2 to back its ally Iran, and the conflict has since displaced more than 1.2 million Lebanese through Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.
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The human cost of the conflict has been staggering. The Lebanese government says the incursion has killed more than 3,370 people since it began. Israel, meanwhile, says 24 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.
Tens of thousands of Israelis in the country's north have also been displaced by Hezbollah rocket and drone fire, Reuters reported.
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