Iran fires missiles at Israel after Beirut strike

Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday night, the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed at least two people and threatened mediation efforts aimed at ending the wider war.

Israel’s military said sirens sounded in several parts of the country as it worked to intercept incoming missiles. “The defense is not hermetic,” the military said, though Al Jazeera reported the army later said it had “intercepted all missiles from Iran thus far” and advised residents they could leave protected spaces about an hour later. Multiple explosions were heard in northern Israel, and Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the launches.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted Israel’s Ramat David airbase with ballistic missiles, according to Iranian media cited by Al Jazeera. The IRGC called the barrage a response to “the widespread killing and displacement of the oppressed people of the Tyre and Nabatieh regions” in southern Lebanon.

“Tonight’s operation was a warning, and if the aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will encompass all American-Zionist targets in the region,” the IRGC said.

The missile fire followed an Israeli strike Sunday on a residential building in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs. Lebanon’s health ministry said the attack killed two people and wounded 20, according to the Associated Press. Al Jazeera reported that at least two people were killed and 11 wounded in what it described as a densely populated civilian neighborhood.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that the army hit a Hezbollah command center, Al Jazeera reported. Israel said the strike was retaliation for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah firing at northern Israel earlier Sunday, though Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility.

Tehran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Middle East. Iran’s IRGC Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters said Israel crossed “all red lines” by continuing to target Dahiyeh. “We had previously warned that if the crime in the suburbs of Beirut spreads, we will attack targets in the occupied territories,” it said, according to Al Jazeera.

The escalation came days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in U.S.-hosted talks. Hezbollah rejected the deal. Israel had announced Monday that it would strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, but urgent talks through Washington halted that plan on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Channel 12’s Barak Ravid that he planned to call Netanyahu “right now” and urge him not to retaliate. “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully, Israel is not going to retaliate,” Trump said, according to Al Jazeera. “We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.”

Trump added: “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.” Al Jazeera reported that Israeli officials had said earlier Sunday they were planning a “forceful response.”

Diplomatic efforts continued Sunday. Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, visited Tehran carrying a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported. Naqvi also met Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Egypt said Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed “proposed elements” of a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, without giving details. Iran has said any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon, while Trump said in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview taped Friday that he was “not demanding” Lebanon be part of an overall ceasefire deal in the Iran war.