By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 28 March 2025
Edit Thread

Beirut attack could mark beginning of new phase in Israel’s war on Lebanon

Beirut-based journalist Ali Rizk has told Al Jazeera that while French President Emmanuel Macron criticised the Israeli attacks on Beirut, it will be interesting to see how the United States responds.

“Are they going to say that Israel has the right to defend itself, as we’re accustomed to, or is there going to be a different reaction given that this [attack] undermines Washington’s allies?” he said.

The Trump administration had previously reassured Lebanon that the capital would not be struck again after the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hezbollah in late November.

However, Israel now claims it hit a building in its southern suburbs because Hezbollah drones were stored. Rizk said that while Israel had previously attacked what it said were missile storage sites, the fact that it was now claiming to be targeting a drone depot in the capital could set a new precedent.

“Is this now the start of a new phase whereby the Lebanese capital is going to be targeted time and time again?” Rizk said.

The journalist added he would also closely watch an upcoming speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, after the group earlier denied responsibility for rockets launched towards Israel.

Israel aims to ‘bludgeon the Lebanese society and state’ into acquiescence

Israel’s latest attacks on Beirut are part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government’s aims to assert Israeli power across the Middle East, according to Rami Khoury, a Middle East analyst from the American University of Beirut.

“It continues a trend that sees the Israelis asserting their military superiority, which is possible because of the total American and other Western support for Israel to do anything that it wants with what it has militarily,” he told Al Jazeera from Boston in the United States.

“And [the Israeli] formula is that anybody who challenges Israel will suffer desolation – not just pinprick attacks or an assassination here or there, but total desolation. Gaza is an example of that, and they will repeat this as necessary all over the region.”

He said the area of Hadath, the area of Beirut hit by Israel today, is a strategic area between the centre of the capital and the international airport.

“It is an area that houses a lot of low-income people, but it also has some fancy apartments close to the sea. So it’s also a message to the Lebanese that Israel will not hesitate to attack any part of Beirut, even the central part, if need be, where there are quite a few expensive apartments, businesses and facilities,” he said.

He said that Israel’s ultimate aim is to force the Lebanese government to agree to some kind of normalisation agreement.

“And if they can’t create a puppet government in south Lebanon, as they did in the ’80s and ’90s, they will try to bludgeon the Lebanese society and state into acquiescing to Israel’s demands.”


Two Syrian workers killed by Israeli strike on southern Lebanon road

We’ve been reporting on multiple Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon and the capital, Beirut.

An Israeli drone strike targeted and killed two Syrian workers on the Yohmor River road in the south.