INTERNACIONAL
Israel strikes Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war
Israel on Friday launched an attack on Lebanon’s capital for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.
Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from an area in the city’s southern suburbs that Israel’s military had vowed to strike.
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It marked Israel’s first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold last November between it and the Hezbollah militant group, though Israel has attacked targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.
Israel’s army said it hit a Hezbollah drone storage facility in Dahiyeh, which it called a militant stronghold. The strike came after Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, warned residents to evacuate the area.
The area struck is a residential and commercial area and is close to at least two schools.
Israeli officials said the attack was retaliation for rockets it said were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. They promised strikes on Beirut would continue unless Lebanon’s government worked to ensure such attacks ceased.
«We will not allow firing at our communities, not even a trickle,» Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. «We will attack everywhere in Lebanon, against any threat to the State of Israel.»
A bomb dropped from an Israeli jet falls before hitting a building in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah denied firing the rockets, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government ordered all schools and universities in Beirut’s southern suburb of Hadath to close for the day. Residents were seen fleeing the area in cars and on foot ahead of the strike.
Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by its Hamas allies ignited the war in Gaza. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 in Israel and abducted 251 others during the 2023 attack.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict exploded into all-out war last September when Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.
Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18, but Israel has remained in five border locations while carrying out dozens of strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon. Last week, Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon killed six people.
Speaking in Paris, Lebanon’s President, Joseph Aoun, said the Beirut area strike was a continuation «of Israel’s violations of the agreement» sponsored by France and the U.S.
During a joint news conference with Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack «unacceptable,» and promised to address it with Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. Macron said that the U.S. can exert pressure on Israel.
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman called on Lebanon’s government to act.
«Israel is defending its people and interests by responding to rocket attacks from terrorists in Lebanon,» the spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce, said Friday. «We expect the Lebanese Armed Forces to disarm these terrorists to prevent further hostilities.»
The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the escalation had created «a critical period for Lebanon and the wider region.»
Israeli strikes in other parts of Lebanon on Friday killed three people and wounded 18, including children and women, in the southern village of Kfar Tibnit, said Lebanon’s health ministry.
The strikes comes less than two weeks after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with surprise strikes that killed hundreds of people in Gaza. Earlier this month, Israel halted deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel is demanding that the group give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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Israel’s offensive in the Strip has killed over 50,000 people and wounded 114,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.
The ministry said Friday that nearly 900 have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire ended in mid-March, including more than 40 over the past 24 hours.
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Some of the top rumored Democratic potential candidates for president in 2028 are showing a united front in opposing U.S. strikes on Iran, with several high-profile figures accusing President Donald Trump of launching an unnecessary and unconstitutional war.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Trump was «dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want.»
«Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,» Harris said in a statement Saturday following the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes throughout Iran.
«This is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world,» she continued. «What we are witnessing is not strength. It is recklessness dressed up as resolve.»
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are seen in separate appearances as leading Democratic 2028 hopefuls spoke out against U.S. strikes on Iran. (Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference; REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen; Mario Tama/Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered some of his sharpest criticism during a book tour stop Saturday night in San Francisco, accusing Trump of manufacturing a crisis.
«It stems from weakness masquerading as strength,» Newsom said. «He lied to you. So reckless is the only way to describe this.»
«He didn’t describe to the American people what the endgame is here,» Newsom added. «There wasn’t one. He manufactured it.»
Newsom is currently promoting his memoir, «Young Man in a Hurry,» with recent and upcoming stops in South Carolina, New Hampshire and Nevada — three key early voting states in the Democratic presidential calendar.
Earlier in the day, Newsom said Iran’s «corrupt and repressive» regime must never obtain nuclear weapons and that the «leadership of Iran must go.»
«But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people,» Newsom wrote on X.
California is home to more than half of the roughly 400,000 Iranian immigrants in the United States, including a large community in West Los Angeles often referred to as «Tehrangeles.»
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a leading progressive voice and «Squad» member, accused Trump of dragging Americans into a conflict they did not support.
«The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic,» Ocasio-Cortez said.
«Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead,» she continued.
«In moments of war, our Constitution is unambiguous: Congress authorizes war. The President does not,» she said, pledging to vote «YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie’s War Powers Resolution.»
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized the strikes and accused Trump of ignoring Congress. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Vox Media)
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another Democrat often mentioned as a potential 2028 contender, also criticized the strikes and accused Trump of ignoring Congress.
«No justification, no authorization from Congress, and no clear objective,» Pritzker wrote on X.
«Donald Trump is once again sidestepping the Constitution and once again failing to explain why he’s taking us into another war,» he continued. «Americans asked for affordable housing and health care, not another potentially endless conflict.»
«God protect our troops,» Pritzker added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro focused his criticism on war powers, arguing Trump acted outside constitutional guardrails.
«In our democracy, the American people — through our elected representatives — decide when our nation goes to war,» Shapiro said, adding that Trump «acted unilaterally — without Congressional approval.»
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro focused his criticism on war powers, arguing Trump acted outside constitutional guardrails. (Rachel Wisniewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«Make no mistake, the Iranian regime represses its own people … they must never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons,» he said. «But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war.»
Shapiro added that «Congress must use all available power» to prevent further escalation.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also accused Trump of launching a «war of choice.»
«The President has launched our nation and our great military into a war of choice, risking American lives and resources, ignoring American law, and endangering our allies and partners,» Buttigieg wrote on X. «This nation learned the hard way that an unnecessary war, with no plan for what comes next, can lead to years of chaos and put America in still greater danger.»
Buttigieg has been hitting early voting states, stopping in New Hampshire and Nevada in recent weeks to campaign for Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who has been floated as a rising national figure within the party, said he lost friends in Iraq to an illegal war and opposed the strikes.
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«Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people. We can support the democracy movement and the Iranian people without sending our troops to die,» Gallego wrote on X.
Fox News’ Daniel Scully and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday, calling the death, which came amid strikes from Israel and the U.S. a «cynical violation» of norms.
Putin made the statement in a letter to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that the Kremlin released to the public in the wake of Khamenei’s death. Saturday’s bold daytime strikes eliminated Khamenei along with several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
«Please accept my deep condolences in connection with the murder of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,» Putin wrote.
«In our country, Ayatollah Khamenei will be remembered as an outstanding statesman who made a huge personal contribution to the development of friendly Russian-Iranian relations and bringing them to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership,» Putin continued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«I ask you to convey my most sincere sympathy and support to the family and friends of the Supreme Leader, the government and the entire people of Iran,» he added.
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani condemned the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that rained down on his country throughout Saturday during a U.N. Security Council meeting.
Iravani accused the U.S. of undermining its claims of pursuing international stability while attacking a sovereign country for its «domestic» activities.
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Demonstrators gather in Basra, Iraq, on Feb. 28, 2026, to protest U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran. (Haidar Mohammed Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«Neither the charter nor international law recognize internal matters of a state as justification for the use of force by other states. The rule of law would be replaced by the rule of force,» Iravani said.
«Iran will continue to exercise its right of self-defense decisively and without hesitation until the aggression ceases in full and unequivocal terms.»
On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump ordered the execution of Operation Epic Fury, citing Tehran’s continued efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
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«It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon,» Trump said in remarks about the attack Saturday.
Trump said the strikes were meant to «defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime» and that they had come after Iran had refused to abandon plans to develop nuclear capabilities.
This map shows the targets of Iran’s retaliatory strikes. (Fox News)
Iravani called the attack a continuation of longstanding U.S. aggression against Iran.
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«Mr. president, this morning the United States regime, jointly and in coordination with the Israeli regime, initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran for the second time in recent months,» Irvani said, referring to strikes the U.S. carried out against its nuclear enrichment sites last year. «The president of the United States and the prime minister of the Israeli regime have openly claimed responsibility for this act of aggression and have explicitly articulated regime change as their objective, an unmistakable admission of their intent to violate Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.»
Fox News’ Leo Briceno and Reuters contributed to this report.
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