Beirut: Israel struck the southern Beirut suburbs on Sunday, just days after a ceasefire agreement in Washington went into effect, PTI reported.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the strikes were in retaliation for the Hezbollah militant group firing toward northern Israel earlier, and that the attacks targeted "command centres" in the sprawling urban neighbourhoods. Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for firing at Israel.
The strikes come after the Lebanese and Israeli governments in Washington renewed a ceasefire agreement in ongoing talks that Beirut hopes will bring an end to the war across the country. There was no immediate word of casualties.
Israel had already struck the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital twice since the first agreement between Lebanon and Israel went into effect on April 17. Strikes over southern Lebanon continue daily, meanwhile, and Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have also clashed.
Israel announced on Monday that it would strike the southern suburbs after Hezbollah claimed attacks in northern Israel, but last-gasp talks via Washington halted the attacks, on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israel's border towns.
Iran had warned that an attack on the Lebanese capital would trigger renewed full-scale war across the Mideast, amid ongoing efforts by Pakistan to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has rejected the US-brokered deal and instead endorsed Iran's demand that ending the war in Lebanon be part of the negotiations with the US. The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south in its latest ground invasion, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas. Its closure has jolted the world economy.