Israeli attacks across Lebanon kill dozens hours after Iran-US ceasefire

Israel’s army says it carries out the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon since its renewed war on the country.Smoke rises from the sites of Israeli air strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs [AFP]Published On 8 Apr 2026Israeli strikes have hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the United States-Israeli war on Iran.Israel’s army said that on Wednesday it carried out the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon since it started a new military operation in the country on March 2. The attacks targeted areas in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4How Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon created a humanitarian crisislist 2 of 4Netanyahu says US-Iran ceasefire ‘does not include Lebanon’list 3 of 4GCC, other Middle East nations react to Iran-US ceasefire announcementlist 4 of 4Lebanon excluded from ceasefire as Israeli strikes continueend of listIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier that the US-Iran truce excluded Lebanon, a country Israel has invaded in a new campaign against the armed group Hezbollah.Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were wounded in the attacks, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.Israeli Defence Minister Israel-katz" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="4249" data-entity-type="person">Israel Katz said the attacks targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.The Israeli military “carried out a surprise strike on hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists at command centres across Lebanon. This is the largest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers,” Katz said in a video statement, referring to a major 2024 operation against Hezbollah involving pager bombs.“Within 10 minutes and across multiple areas simultaneously: The [Israeli military] completed the largest coordinated strike targeting more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites,” an Israeli military statement said.“Most of the infrastructure that was struck was located within the heart of the civilian population,” it said, claiming that “steps were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible.”Plumes of smoke could be seen rising over Beirut and the suburbs as panicked people rushed out onto the streets.“We could hear a series of enormous, deep, booming explosions coming not just from the southern suburbs but many other parts of the city,” Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb said, reporting from Beirut.“Many of the locations were in places where nobody expected strikes to hit. It caused panic and chaos in the streets. Children were crying. People were shouting – many people injured, running through the streets trying to get to hospitals. Others abandoned their cars in the traffic.”The Lebanese Red Cross said 100 of its ambulances were responding to the attacks and its teams were working to transport the injured to hospitals.Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told Al Jazeera that hospitals were overcrowded.Israel’s military renewed a forced displacement order for an area more than 40km (25 miles) from its border with Lebanon, saying “the battle in Lebanon is ongoing” before reiterating its call for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to flee their homes or face attacks.It also issued a warning for a building in the coastal city of Tyre after striking another one near it.“But the warnings didn’t include the many other sites, including several sites across the capital, Beirut, that haven’t been hit previously in this round of conflict and where nobody was expecting it,” Webb said.‘Defenceless civilians’Israeli Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir, who oversaw the wave of strikes, said the army will continue “striking Hezbollah”.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel was attacking densely populated neighbourhoods and killing “defenceless civilians”.Israel “remains utterly heedless of all regional and international efforts to halt the war – not to mention its utter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law, which it has never respected”, Salam said.“All friends of Lebanon are called upon to assist us in bringing an end to these aggressions by every means available,” he added.Hezbollah, meanwhile, has not claimed any operations against Israel since 1am on Wednesday (22:00 GMT on Tuesday), about the time the US-Iran ceasefire took hold.Ibrahim Al Moussawi, a Hezbollah MP, warned of a response from Iran and its allies if Israel “does not adhere to a ceasefire”.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier on Wednesday had welcomed the truce, saying he hoped his country would be included in it.Israeli air strikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon since March 2, including more than 100 women and 130 children, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced.