This is the fourth time Israel has attacked the Lebanese capital since the November ceasefire with Hezbollah.
A series of Israeli strikes have targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area, in areas that it said held underground facilities used by Lebanese group Hezbollah for drone production.
This is the fourth time Israel has attacked Beirut since a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah went into effect last November. It has also carried out assassinations and pre-announced strikes that it said targeted Hezbollah sites.
Prior to the attacks on Thursday, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had on Thursday ordered residents living near the buildings in the neighbourhoods of Hadath, Haret Hreik and Borj el-Barajneh in the southern Beirut suburbs of Dahiye to evacuate.
“You are next to infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah,” Adraee said in a social media post, which included a map of the identified buildings. The message, in Arabic, indicated that Israel would soon bomb the area.
Following the evacuation order, Lebanese media reported the area was nearly emptied of inhabitants, who had been preparing to celebrate the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, and had been sealed off as “warning strikes” could be heard.
Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanada agency showed people hurrying away after the evacuation warning:
حركة نزوح كثيفة من الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت بعد تهديد الجيش الاسرائيلي pic.twitter.com/yuqA4giy4v
— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) June 5, 2025
The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of manufacturing UAV drones in a “blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” in the area.
The Israeli military “will work to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens and prevent any attempt to reestablish the terrorist organization Hezbollah”, the military said.
