Sudden strikes shake Beirut

Israeli strikes hit several crowded commercial and residential areas in central Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, with no warning, only hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Israel said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mediator Pakistan, however, said it does.

The Israeli military described the assault as the largest coordinated strike in the current war, saying it hit more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley within 10 minutes.

Black smoke rose over several parts of the coastal capital. Explosions broke through the usual traffic noise on a blue-sky afternoon. Ambulances rushed toward fires. At least one apartment building was hit, and emergency responders were seen searching burned-out vehicles.

Officials did not immediately say how many people were killed or wounded, but several of the strikes landed in busy commercial areas and sent people running through the streets.

Israel's military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centers and intelligence infrastructure. It also accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, a claim that tends to appear whenever civilians happen to be standing where bombs land.

“The State of Lebanon and its civilians must refuse Hezbollah’s entrenchment in civilian areas and its weapons build-up capabilities,” the military said in a statement.

Hezbollah says it is waiting, but not conceding

Israel has rarely struck central Beirut since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, though it has regularly attacked southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Before the fresh wave of strikes, a Hezbollah official said the group was giving mediators a chance to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but that it was not agreeing to one itself while Israel kept attacking.

“We have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

He added that Hezbollah would not accept a return to the pre-March 2 arrangement, when Israel carried out near-daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire that had technically been in place since the last full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024.

“We will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they did before this war with regards to attacks,” he said. “We do not want this phase to continue.”

Hezbollah fired missiles across the border days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, setting off a wider regional war. Israel replied with heavy bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.

Since then, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon, including more than 100 women and 130 children, according to the report. The Israeli military says it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. More than one million people have been displaced.

Displaced families hoped to go home, then did not

Earlier on Wednesday, after the ceasefire in Iran was announced, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the streets of Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon started gathering their belongings and preparing to return home.

That changed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would continue operating in Lebanon.

At a large displacement camp on Beirut’s waterfront, families already worn down by repeated uprooting reacted with confusion and despair.

“We can’t take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the uncertainty,” said Fadi Zaydan, 35.

He and his parents had been getting ready to head back to the southern city of Nabatieh before Netanyahu's comments stopped them. Still, the risk of moving remained painfully clear.

“But we’ll be targeted if we go home,” Zaydan said.

For now, his family decided to stay in Sidon, which is a little closer to home. Small comfort, really, when the map itself seems to keep changing.