An Israeli strike on south Beirut on Tuesday killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, marking the second such attack during a fragile four-month cease-fire, according to Israel and a Hezbollah source.
Lebanon's leaders condemned the attack, which came without warning at around 3:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. GMT) during Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
It struck after Israel on Friday raided Beirut's southern suburbs – a stronghold of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group – after issuing an evacuation warning.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said four people, including a woman, were killed in the latest strike.
The top two floors of a multi-storey building were destroyed, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist said.
Ismael Noureddine, who lives opposite the building, said his family was screaming.
"We couldn't see each other because of all the dust," he told AFP, describing "a very big explosion," followed by another.
A source close to Hezbollah, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, told AFP the strike killed Hassan Bdair, Hezbollah's "deputy head for the Palestinian file" who was "at home with his family."
Israel's military confirmed it killed Bdair in a joint statement with the Shin Bet domestic security agency.
The statement claimed Bdair recently operated in cooperation with Hamas, directed its members and assisted them in planning and advancing a significant attack against Israeli civilians.
It did not elaborate.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike and called on his country's allies to support "our right to full sovereignty."
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the attack was a "clear breach" of a cease-fire deal that largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Musawi said Lebanese authorities must take high-level measures "to guarantee the safety of the Lebanese."
The raid came just days after Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs in response to unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon, which it blamed on Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the country's military would "strike everywhere in Lebanon against any threat" in response.
Jamal Badreddine, 67, said Tuesday's strike hit about 30 meters (100 feet) from his home.
"Not just one person is targeted – everyone in the country, from young to old, has become the target," he said.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon since the Nov. 27 cease-fire, hitting what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the agreement.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group's unprecedented incursion of southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
After nearly a year of cross-border hostilities, Israel dramatically scaled up its campaign in September, heavily bombing Hezbollah strongholds in south and east Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs and later sending in ground troops.
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said: "further escalation is the last thing anyone needs."
In a post on X, she said the "only viable route forward" was U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and served as the foundation of the November truce.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, saying: "We cannot allow this to continue."
Israel's military said Friday two "projectiles" were fired from Lebanon towards Israel, the second such launch since the cease-fire, after an earlier incident on March 22.
Hezbollah denied involvement on both occasions.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Lebanon's "government bears direct responsibility" for any such fire and if it does not enforce the cease-fire, "we will enforce it."
Lebanon's military later Friday said it had identified the site of the rocket launch, just north of the Litani River.
On Sunday, Lebanon's General Security agency said it had arrested several suspects.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by Feb. 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems "strategic."
The agreement also required Hezbollah to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
The Lebanese army has deployed in the south as the Israeli military pulled back.
