Explosions rocked Hezbollah-held areas as Lebanon’s leaders warned against escalation.
BEIRUT, LEBANON — Israeli warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs early Monday after Hezbollah launched rockets and drones toward northern Israel, reviving a front that had been mostly quiet since a 2024 ceasefire. The exchange jolted residents awake, sent families fleeing in cars and on foot, and prompted evacuation warnings across parts of Lebanon.
The attack and response marked one of the sharpest flare-ups between Israel and Hezbollah in more than a year, and it unfolded as fighting elsewhere in the region intensified. Hezbollah said it fired on an Israeli missile-defense facility near Haifa in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a shock event that has set off a wider crisis. Israel blamed Hezbollah for choosing to “join the campaign,” while Lebanon’s prime minister condemned the rocket launches as reckless and said the state would act to prevent the country from being pulled into another war.
More than a dozen blasts hit the southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, a dense area long seen as a Hezbollah stronghold. The strikes began in the early morning hours, and residents described windows shaking across parts of the capital as the sound of aircraft and explosions carried over the city. Streams of people left the area in private cars, scooters, and on foot, with traffic backing up on key roads leading into central Beirut. Some families packed bags quickly, called relatives in safer neighborhoods, and tried to decide whether to shelter in place or move farther away.
Israel’s military said it began striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including what it described as senior members near Beirut and other operatives elsewhere. The military also said projectiles crossing from Lebanon fell in open areas and that one was intercepted, adding that it had no reports of injuries or damage in Israel from the overnight fire. Hezbollah, for its part, said it launched rockets and drones from southern Lebanon and aimed at a missile-defense site south of Haifa, describing the attack as revenge for Khamenei’s death and as a response to repeated Israeli strikes. Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Hezbollah was “fully responsible for any escalation” and warned that Israel would respond forcefully.
In the hours after the first explosions in Beirut, Israel issued warnings that widened anxiety beyond the capital. Messages and alerts circulated telling residents of dozens of villages and towns in southern and eastern Lebanon to leave areas near sites Israel said were linked to Hezbollah. The warnings told people to move at least about a kilometer away from certain locations ahead of possible strikes. In southern Lebanon, residents reported the sound of aircraft overhead and blasts in multiple areas, and local reporters described damage to buildings and vehicles in some towns. The full extent of damage was not immediately clear, and officials did not release a confirmed casualty toll from the Beirut strikes in the first hours after the attack.
The exchange reopened painful memories in Lebanon of the last major round of fighting. The 2024 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a U.S.-backed ceasefire after more than a year of clashes along the border that escalated into wider strikes. Lebanese families who fled during that war, and later returned to damaged homes and disrupted lives, said Monday’s blasts felt like a return to a trauma they had hoped was behind them. Many residents in the south and in the Bekaa Valley, where Israel also said it would strike, worried that displacement could spread again, with schools, workplaces, and daily routines thrown into uncertainty.
Since the 2024 ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes in Lebanon that it says target Hezbollah’s efforts to rebuild and rearm. Hezbollah has said it has largely held back from major retaliation in order to avoid a new war, while also insisting it will respond when it chooses. The group has also faced deep losses in leadership and operational capacity over the past two years. Lebanese officials have repeatedly accused Israel of violating Lebanese sovereignty, and they have pressed foreign governments and international bodies to push for restraint. Hezbollah operates independently of the Lebanese state, a reality that has long fueled tensions inside Lebanon about who decides questions of war and peace.
Monday’s escalation quickly drew a sharp response from Lebanon’s political leadership. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the rocket launches from southern Lebanon “an irresponsible and suspicious act” that endangers national security and gives Israel justification to expand attacks. He said the government would take steps to identify those responsible and protect civilians. The statement underscored a growing divide between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah over unilateral military decisions, especially at a time when Lebanon is still struggling with long-running economic hardship and political strain. The strikes also raised questions about how Lebanon’s security forces could contain armed actions launched from its territory during a moment of regional turmoil.
Israel framed its response as part of a broader military posture that has shifted rapidly since the killing of Khamenei. Israeli officials said Hezbollah’s attack linked the Lebanon front to a larger confrontation involving Iran and Iran-aligned groups. Hezbollah described itself as acting in defense of Lebanon and said the killing of Khamenei demanded retaliation. The group’s decision to fire rockets and drones, after months without a large cross-border attack of that kind, suggested a recalculation in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in Hezbollah’s command structure, even as many details remained unclear about how the operation was planned and who authorized the timing.
The strike locations in Beirut added to the alarm. Dahiyeh is heavily built up, and its streets are lined with apartment blocks, small businesses, and main roads that connect to the rest of the capital. Residents said they saw smoke rising from several areas and heard secondary sounds that suggested multiple sites were hit. Some people described stepping into hallways or stairwells during the blasts, then emerging to find debris on roads and anxious neighbors gathered outside. The early-morning timing intensified the chaos, with families waking children, grabbing documents, and searching for fuel or transportation in the dark.
Across the border, Israel’s military said it was preparing for the possibility of further rocket fire. The military’s statements emphasized deterrence and accountability, arguing that Hezbollah’s actions threatened Israelis in the north and could not go unanswered. Israeli warnings to Lebanese villages signaled an effort to pressure communities away from places Israel says are used by Hezbollah, and to reduce the risk to Israeli pilots and planners from civilian casualties. Still, with many villages tightly woven into the geography of southern Lebanon, evacuations can be difficult and often occur under fear, confusion, and limited information.
The latest round of violence also complicated diplomatic signals that had circulated just days earlier. Lebanon’s presidency said it had received assurances from a U.S. envoy that Israel would avoid escalation if there were no hostile acts from the Lebanese side. Hezbollah’s overnight launch, and Israel’s heavy response in Beirut and elsewhere, undercut that expectation and highlighted how quickly conditions on the ground can change. For Lebanese officials, the immediate concern was preventing a slide into a wider confrontation that could overwhelm an already strained state. For Israel, the concern was stopping a renewed northern threat while the region remains on edge.
What comes next may depend on whether either side chooses to expand beyond the opening exchange. Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets across Lebanon and signaled it could continue. Hezbollah did not announce additional attacks beyond the initial barrage, but it framed its action as a rightful response and linked it to broader events involving Iran. The lack of an early official casualty toll in Beirut left uncertainty about how much pressure Hezbollah may face from residents and from the Lebanese state if civilians were harmed. At the same time, any Israeli injuries from future rocket salvos could harden positions in Jerusalem and drive additional strikes.
For now, the immediate picture in Beirut was one of fear and movement. Roads out of the southern suburbs jammed, some fuel stations saw lines, and families tried to find rooms with relatives in less exposed areas. In southern Lebanon, residents weighed whether to leave villages named in evacuation messages, and many looked for updates from local officials, community leaders, and emergency services. In Israel, communities near the border tracked alerts and listened for sirens, while officials assessed damage and interception results from the overnight barrage.
The situation remained fluid Monday morning, with residents and officials awaiting clearer information on damage, casualties, and whether further attacks were imminent. Lebanon’s government said it was working to identify who carried out the launches and to keep the country from being dragged into a new war, while Israel’s military signaled it would keep striking if it assessed ongoing threats. The next milestone was expected to come within hours as both sides evaluated the aftermath and decided whether to escalate or pull back.
Author note: Last updated March 2, 2026.