Israel warns of attacks ‘everywhere’ in Lebanon after rocket fire

BEIRUT, LEBANON, MAR 29 (AFP/APP/DNA):Israel said on Friday it will strike anywhere in Lebanon it sees a threat, after rocket fire prompted it to bomb Beirut for the first time during the fragile four-month-old truce with Hezbollah.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs as “a dangerous escalation” and French President Emmanuel Macron called it an “unacceptable” truce violation.

The health ministry reported no casualties from the Beirut attack but said Israeli strikes in the south killed five people.

It was the second time rockets had been launched at Israel from Lebanon since the November ceasefire — the first was last Saturday — and the second time Iran-backed Hezbollah denied involvement.

“The equation has changed,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will continue to enforce the ceasefire with force, strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat to the State of Israel.”

Israel has continued to carry out often-deadly air raids in southern and eastern Lebanon since the ceasefire, striking what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement.

But Friday’s was the first in the capital’s southern suburbs since the ceasefire. It came after the military warned residents to “immediately evacuate” the area.

It said the attack targeted a “site used to store UAVs by Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit (127) in the area of Dahieh, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold”.

Israel heavily bombed the area during its war with the group last year.

At a joint press conference with Macron in Paris, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said an investigation will have to be conducted but all indications are “Hezbollah is not responsible” for the latest rocket fire.

An AFP photographer at the scene said the Israeli strike completely destroyed the targeted building. Black smoke rose into the sky and fire burned in the rubble.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israel also bombarded around a dozen areas of the south, killing three people in Kfar Tebnit near Nabatieh and two in nearby Yohmor.