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Israel Launches Massive Airstrike on Beirut as US-Iran Ceasefire Excludes Lebanon

Israel Launches Massive Airstrike on Beirut as US-Iran Ceasefire Excludes Lebanon
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Israeli warplanes struck central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, killing at least 89 people and wounding about 700, just hours after Washington and Tehran announced a two‑week ceasefire in their war with Iran pbs. Israel said the truce did not apply to its separate campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and described the operation as its largest bombing wave of the conflict, hitting more than 100 targets in roughly 10 minutes across the country aljazeera.

The strikes tore through dense commercial and residential districts in the heart of the Lebanese capital, areas that had been considered relatively safer than the already-battered southern suburbs and border regions. Lebanon’s health ministry said casualty figures were expected to rise as rescuers worked into the night to pull people from collapsed buildings and smouldering cars pbs. Hospitals reported being overwhelmed, with some patients treated in corridors and parking lots ft.

Ceasefire Exclusion Sparks Diplomatic Clash

Israeli officials framed the assault as a necessary blow against Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, saying jets hit missile launchers, command centres and intelligence facilities from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley aljazeera. The army accused Hezbollah of “blending into” civilian neighbourhoods and warned its campaign in Lebanon would continue despite the U.S.–Iran truce pbs +1. Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that Hezbollah’s leadership remained in Israel’s sights, saying of acting leader Naim Qassem, “his turn will come” pbs.

That position directly contradicted statements from Pakistan, which brokered the ceasefire and said the agreement was intended to cover all regional fronts, including Lebanon pbs. U.S. President Donald Trump, asked whether the Beirut strikes violated the new deal, called Lebanon “a separate skirmish,” signalling Washington would not treat the bombardment as a breach of the truce with Iran pbs. The ambiguity over the ceasefire’s scope added a fresh layer of uncertainty to already fragile diplomacy.

Civilian Toll Mounts as Lebanon Cries Foul

On the ground in Beirut, witnesses described scenes of carnage at busy intersections where bodies lay beside burning vehicles and shattered shopfronts pbs. Many of those killed or injured were thought to be among the more than one million people who had fled earlier fighting in southern Lebanon and crowded into the capital in recent weeks ft +1. “These hits are now at the heart of Beirut,” Social Affairs Minister Haneed Sayed said, noting that roughly half of the displaced had been sheltering in the struck districts pbs.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of showing “utter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law,” alleging that clearly civilian areas had been hit without warning pbs. President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks as “barbaric” and appealed to foreign governments and the United Nations for urgent intervention and aid pbs. With Lebanese officials reporting more than 1,500 killed nationwide and up to 1.2 million displaced since the conflict widened into Lebanon in early March, humanitarian agencies warned that the latest strikes risked tipping the country into full-scale catastrophe ft +1.

The Bigger Picture

The bombardment of central Beirut underscored how the U.S.–Iran ceasefire has failed, at least so far, to contain the wider regional war it was meant to pause. By insisting its campaign against Hezbollah is exempt, Israel has kept the Lebanon front active, deepening Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis and raising the risk that any miscalculation could unravel the fragile truce with Tehran. As diplomats argue over the fine print of the ceasefire, residents of Beirut are confronting a more immediate reality: a capital once seen as a relative refuge has abruptly become a front line.