Missiles launched at northern Israel following strikes on Beirut
Kareem Chehayeb And Hasan Ammar
Updated ,first published
Jerusalem: Israel says Iran fired missiles at it in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, complicating efforts to mediate a deal to end the war.
Iranian state television confirmed the missile launch and quoted the armed forces as saying “Iranian attacks will continue if Israel responds to Iranian attacks or does not stop its attacks on Lebanon.”
The Israeli military said all missiles from Iran were intercepted but warned that “defenses are not hermetic” and added that sirens were blaring in several parts of the country. Many explosions were heard in the north of Israel, but there was no statement from Iran-backed Hezbollah, which frequently opened fire in the region.
There have been no reports of any casualties or damage in Israel yet. The White House did not immediately respond to messages about the missile launches.
Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, defying Washington’s request to withdraw days earlier. Israel described it as retaliation for Iran-backed Hezbollah opening fire on northern Israel earlier in the day.
Israel’s attack on Beirut came just days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in US-hosted talks, but Hezbollah rejected the agreement. Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed and 20 injured in an attack on a residential building.
While Pakistan was trying to restart negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would restart a full-scale war in the Middle East. Iran wants an agreement that includes an end to the war in Lebanon.
“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain alert and ready,” U.S. Central Command stated on X shortly before the missile was launched.
Associated Press journalists also heard loud explosions in the sky over Damascus. State media in Syria attributed the explosions to Israeli air defenses. Syria temporarily closed its southern airspace for 12 hours and suspended operations at Damascus airport.
Iraq has temporarily closed its airspace and suspended air navigation for air traffic safety reasons following the launch of Iranian rockets, civil aviation officials told Reuters on Sunday. Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said Iraqi airspace will remain closed for 72 hours.
Israel’s incursions and land occupation into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah and the militant group’s resistance to disarmament have complicated an overall agreement to end the war in the Middle East. Iran says any deal must include an end to the conflict in Lebanon.
The White House did not comment on Israel’s attack in Beirut. Israel had said on Monday it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks through Washington stopped that on condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.
On Sunday night, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for opening fire on Israel earlier in the day.
Hezbollah wants an end to direct talks between Lebanon and Israel and instead supports Iran’s position that the general ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington should include the situation in Lebanon.
Mediation efforts on that larger deal continued Sunday, with Pakistan’s interior minister visiting Iran to meet with officials and Egypt’s foreign minister and his Qatari counterpart saying they had discussed “proposed elements” of a potential deal without any details.
US President Donald Trump in an interview recorded Friday and aired Sunday on NBC Meet the Press“I would like to see Lebanon living a better life. I would like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical,” he said.
Trump added that he “did not ask” for Lebanon to be part of the short-term agreement to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the United States began attacking Iran. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. At least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians lost their lives in the clashes.
Meanwhile, Iran continued to assert its dominance in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States continued its blockade of Iranian ports; Shipments of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer were affected and the global economy suffered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to continue Israel’s offensive until he believes Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday. According to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Mohsen Naqvi was conveying a message from Pakistan’s chief of staff, Marshal Asim Munir, to Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. No details were given regarding the content of the message.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was elected ruler of the Islamic Republic following the killing of his father on February 28, the first day of the war.
According to official Iranian media, Naqvi met with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni late on Saturday and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday.
Pakistani officials said Islamabad was working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran with the support of regional countries such as Qatar, Türkiye and Egypt.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed “proposed elements” of a potential deal between the United States and Iran, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, without providing details.
