31 killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

Israeli warplanes struck Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killing over 30 people, following a rocket and drone attack claimed by Hezbollah on a military base in Haifa, northern Israel, escalating tensions across the region.

The Iran-allied Lebanese armed group said early on Monday that its attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “in defence of Lebanon and its people” and “in response to the repeated Israeli aggressions”, reports Al Jazeera.

“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,” the group said in a statement, referring to the near-daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

“The Israeli enemy cannot continue its 15-month-long aggression without a warning response to halt this aggression and withdraw from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that 31 people were killed and 149 were injured in the Israeli attack on Monday .

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price” for firing at Israel and that the group’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem, was “now a marked target for assassination”.

Katz threatened Qassem, saying, “Anyone who follows Khamenei’s path will soon find himself in the depths of hell with all the thwarted members of the axis of evil.”

Hezbollah, which operates independently from the Lebanese government, has been weakened by the 2024 war, which saw Israel kill most of the group’s military and political leaders. It is not clear how much damage it can inflict on Israel or whether its intervention can meaningfully alter the balance of power for Iran.

The violence marks a serious escalation in what is becoming a regional war between the United States and Israel on one side, and Iran and its allies on the other.

Israel was quick to respond with air attacks in southern Beirut. Local news outlets also reported Israeli attacks in several villages in south Lebanon, as well as the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country.