In brief
- Israeli strikes on Beirut kill two, wound 20.
- The US-Israeli led war in the Middle East has reached its 100th day.
Israel's military struck Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, hitting apartments in two buildings after saying it had intercepted rockets launched by Hezbollah into Israeli territory.
The Lebanese health ministry said the attack in the capital killed two people and wounded 20 others, including four children and four women.
Israel and Hezbollah regularly exchange fire in southern Lebanon but the capital — including districts seen as bastions of the Iran-backed group — has been relatively spared of late, having been struck only twice since mid-April.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced the army "just struck a militant command centre in Beirut's Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah's fire towards Israeli territory".
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said that after Hezbollah had launched rockets towards civilian targets in Israel, a "precise strike" was conducted against one of the group's command centres, adding "steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians".
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Hezbollah later confirmed having launched missiles and drones that it said targeted a pair of army barracks in northern Israel early on Sunday.
The Israeli response in Beirut "targeted two apartments in two buildings", according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.
A photographer from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency saw two apartments damaged on a narrow street, and traffic congestion as residents tried to leave the suburb while the Lebanese army deployed to the area.
Earlier this week in Washington, Lebanese and Israeli envoys touted a conditional truce agreement that would have required Hezbollah to stop firing and withdraw from near the Israeli border.
But Hezbollah rejected the agreement, demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
Even after the deal was announced, Israel warned it would strike Beirut's southern suburbs should Hezbollah attack northern Israel.
Air raid sirens sounded on the Israeli side of the border earlier on Monday, and the military said "two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory were intercepted".
Iran threatens retaliation, follows through
Iran threatened to retaliate against the United States and Israel for the fresh attack on Beirut on Monday, further dampening hopes for a lasting peace as the Middle East war reached its 100th day.
Efforts to turn a ceasefire into a settlement have repeatedly stalled, while the war has rattled global markets and increased domestic pressure on US President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections.
Iran insists any deal to permanently end the war must also halt the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel is pursuing a campaign against the Iran-backed movement Hezbollah.
Iran had warned in recent days that any new attacks on Beirut would trigger a "full-scale resumption" of hostilities.
Israel had warned it would hit the area should Hezbollah attack northern Israel.
Iran's military central command said Sunday that Israel's latest strike on the southern Beirut suburbs had "crossed all red lines", demanding a halt to its campaign in Lebanon.
"The Israeli army must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and the suburbs, and if it expands its attacks to that region or responds to Iran's action, it will face more devastating and regrettable blows," said General Ali Abdollahi, the head of the Khatam al-Anbiya command, without directly mentioning missile salvos that Israel said it was intercepting.
Air raid sirens sounded in Israel on Sunday as its military worked to intercept barrages of incoming Iranian missiles for the first time since an April ceasefire took hold in the Middle East war.
The Israeli army reported the attack just hours after Iran had issued its threat of retaliation.
The Israeli military said it had so far intercepted all missiles fired by Iran on Sunday, while warning that the Islamic republic had launched a new salvo.
"The IDF intercepted all missiles from Iran thus far. The IDF has currently identified additional launches fired toward the State of Israel," the military said. "The Aerial Defense Array is currently identifying and intercepting threats."
Iran closed the airspace over the west of the country on Sunday following the missile salvo.
"Due to safety and security assessments... the western part of the country's airspace was declared closed until further notice," said Majid Akhavan, the spokesman for the National Civil Aviation Organisation, in a statement carried by the news agency IRNA.
Iraq, whose borders separate Iran from Lebanon and Israel, followed suit, closing its own airspace in response to the violence.
'Gone numb'
The threats of escalation on the war's 100th day came as Iranians were already feeling the strain of weeks of uncertainty.
Fitness trainer Elaheh from Ahvaz told AFP: "I really have gone numb."
"Daily life? It's a joke. Everything is horrible. We only try to survive," the 32-year-old added, pointing to rising prices.
Farhad, a 35-year-old chef, also said life was becoming "increasingly difficult", noting economic hardship had set in even before the war.
"Things that just a few months ago you might have considered buying have now become dreams and fairy tales," he told AFP.
There were some signs of ongoing diplomatic efforts over the weekend, with Pakistan's interior minister Mohsin Naqvi visiting Tehran.
Naqvi said upon his arrival on Sunday that he would deliver a "special letter" from Pakistan's army chief to Iran's supreme leader, as well as a message from the prime minister, according to Iranian state television.
Pakistani military leader Syed Asim Munir has played a key role in mediating between Iran and the US following an initial round of direct negotiations in Islamabad.
Also on Sunday, Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal travelled to Pakistan for his own talks with Munir, and a source with knowledge of his visit said it was "linked to the Pakistani mediation" between Tehran and Washington.
'Deadlock'
Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had told CNN negotiations with the US "are at a deadlock, and Trump must break this deadlock", calling for the release of some US$24 billion ($34 billion) in frozen Iranian assets.
But Trump said in the same interview that he would not unfreeze Iranian assets before reaching an initial agreement with Tehran. "If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking," he said.
In fact, the US may seek to use those funds to pay for damage wrought by Iranian strikes on Gulf allies, according to a source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's thinking.
Meanwhile, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said overnight that it destroyed two Iranian drones "that threatened international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz".
A previous drone interception and strikes on Iranian radar sites had prompted Iran on Sunday to fire a salvo of missiles at US allies Bahrain and Kuwait.
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