Israeli strikes hit central Beirut after Iran truce

April 9, 2026

Summary

Israeli strikes hit central Beirut, killing and wounding civilians, after Israel said the Iran ceasefire did not extend to Lebanon.

Why this matters

The strikes underscored that the Iran ceasefire did not halt fighting on the Israel-Lebanon front, raising the risk of wider regional instability. They also deepened uncertainty for more than 1 million displaced people in Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes hit several commercial and residential areas in central Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Israel said the agreement with Iran did not apply to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, though mediator Pakistan said it did. The Israeli military said it carried out its largest coordinated strike of the current war, hitting more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said at least five neighborhoods in Beirut’s central and coastal areas were struck. Israel said it targeted missile launchers, command centers, and intelligence infrastructure, and accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields. Residents and local officials denied the sites were military targets.

“These hits are now at the heart of Beirut … Half of the sheltered (internally displaced persons) are in Beirut in this area,” Social Affairs Minister Haneed Sayed told The Associated Press. She called the strikes a “very dangerous turning point” and said Lebanon’s government was ready to negotiate an end to hostilities, an offer she said the president had previously made. “There are calls and efforts being made as we speak,” she said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel was escalating as Lebanese officials sought a negotiated solution, and accused it of striking civilian areas in “utter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law — principles it has, in any case, never respected.”

A Hezbollah official said before the strikes that the group was giving mediators time to seek a ceasefire, but “we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said Hezbollah would not accept a return to conditions before March 2, when Israel had carried out near-daily strikes despite a ceasefire that had been nominally in place since the previous full-scale war ended in November 2024.

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon, including more than 100 women and 130 children, and displaced more than 1 million people, according to the article. The Israeli military has said it killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters.

After the Iran ceasefire was announced, some displaced families in Beirut and Sidon prepared to return home. They stopped after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue operations in Lebanon.

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