Israel strikes Beirut, Iranian MP threatens retaliation
Israeli forces struck the outskirts of Beirut for the first time since the United States announced its ceasefire plan for Lebanon last week, after an Iranian lawmaker threatened retaliation, putting talks to end the broader war in new jeopardy.
Iran has long said that any peace deal with the United States would also be contingent on a ceasefire in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March after crossing the border in pursuit of pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighters.
There was no official response from Iran to the Israeli attacks on the southern outskirts of Beirut on Sunday, but influential Iranian MP Ibrahim Rezaei stated in X that Iran would give a “decisive and painful response”.
“Look at the sky of the occupied territories tonight,” wrote Rezaei, who serves as spokesman for parliament’s national security committee.
The United States and Iran have made little progress in reaching an agreement to end the war that President Donald Trump launched in February with a campaign of airstrikes against Iran alongside Israel.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to restart attacks unless a deal is reached soon.
“We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow them up,” Trump told NBC News in an interview commemorating the 100th day of the conflict.
Trump has leaned on Israel to scale back his campaign in Lebanon to make room for a peace deal with Iran, including berating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week.
Following the call, Netanyahu canceled air strikes on Beirut and agreed with the Lebanese government on a final ceasefire plan.
But Israel never fully halted its offensive in Lebanon, which killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Hezbollah, which is not a party to the ceasefire and will be disbanded according to the terms of the agreement, continues its attacks and says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel stops fighting and withdraws.
Netanyahu said Sunday’s attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, long a Hezbollah stronghold, was in response to Hezbollah opening fire on Israel.
The Israeli army had previously announced that it had intercepted two bullets fired at the border.
The organization issued an order for people to leave the city of Tire in southern Lebanon and the surrounding areas before a possible attack.
Mourners in Beirut on Sunday held a military funeral for senior officer Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, who was killed in an attack on his vehicle in the south the previous day.
The broader war has been stalemated since the United States and Israel halted attacks on Iran in early April because Iran blocked most shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for Middle East oil.
The US imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
While both sides say they are close to a preliminary agreement to reopen the strait, they have repeatedly traded attacks, with attacks escalating in recent days, including attacks on nearby Arab countries that host US bases.
U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites at Goruk and Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran that U.S. Central Command said posed a threat to maritime traffic.
Two more Iranian attack planes threatening ships in the strait were shot down, the US military said late Saturday.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced that they retaliated against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Kuwaiti army said that it opened fire with seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential areas, causing material damage but no casualties.
