Israeli forces launch fresh attack on area in Beirut's southern suburbs

Israeli forces carried out an airstrike overnight Sunday in an area of the Lebanese capital Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The strike targeted the Harat Hreik area, an Anadolu correspondent reported.

It caused a fire around a targeted building, with no immediate information on casualties, the reporter said.

Lieut. Col. Ella Waweya, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, claimed in a post on the US social media company X’s platform that the army was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.

In an earlier post on X, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a warning to evacuate the southern suburb, claiming the army intended to target Hezbollah members and their facilities.

Tensions have flared since Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries which it says are targeting US military assets.

The conflict also spilled over to Lebanon, with the Israeli army expanding attacks that have killed more than 800 people and injured over 2,000 others since March 2 amid cross-border attacks with Hezbollah.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel