Israel on Friday conducted drone strikes on a southern Beirut suburb, according to Lebanese official media, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order. The strike occurred as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and is the first such attack since a November ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Issued on: 28/03/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on March 28, 2025. © Ibrahim Amro, AFP
Official media in Lebanon reported an air strike Friday on south Beirut following an Israeli military warning, the first such move since a November ceasefire that has been seriously disrupted over the past week.
"Israeli warplanes struck the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs," the National News Agency said, referring to a densely populated area home to residential buildings and schools, after unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel earlier in the day.
Shortly before the strike, Israel's army issued an evacuation order to residents of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs. The military told them to leave the area around "Hezbollah facilities" immediately.
"Anyone located in the building marked in red as shown on the map, and the surrounding buildings... are near Hezbollah facilities... you must immediately evacuate these buildings", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map showing the building.
The order came as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun began talks in Paris on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss economic reforms and efforts to stabilise the country.
Macron said Friday's strikes on Beirut were "unacceptable" and a violation of the ceasefire after the meeting with Aoun.
Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, Macron said the renewed tensions “mark a turning point".
“Today’s strikes and the failure to respect the ceasefire are unilateral actions that betray a given promise and play into Hezbollah’s hands,” he said.
He said he will speak with US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the coming hours over the situation in Lebanon.
“I call on Lebanon’s friends to act quickly to stop the deterioration and help Lebanon implement international resolutions,” Aoun added.
Making his first trip to a Western nation, Aoun was seeking to shore up support from Paris after the new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, succeeded in putting together a government after two years of stalemate.
Under a ceasefire deal brokered by France and the United States in November, armed group Hezbollah was to remove its weapons from southern Lebanon, Israeli ground forces were to withdraw, and the Lebanese army was to deploy in the area. Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel have all accused each other of violating the accords.
Watch more US, France are 'guarantors of ceasefire deal', Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says
“It seems to us today that we have to move forward on the possibility of a complete respect of the ceasefire,” a French presidency official told reporters ahead of the visit, whose country, along with the US, is a guarantor of the accord.
The official said Paris was in contact with President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his deputy Morgan Ortagus on the issue.
Israel strikes Hadath neighbourhood
The Israeli military said on Friday it was striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, hours after missiles were fired from Lebanese territory into Israel.
Lebanese President Aoun in Paris on first Europe visit since election
Official media in Lebanon reported an air strike Friday on south Beirut following an Israeli military warning, the first such move since a November ceasefire that has been seriously disrupted over the past week.
"Israeli warplanes struck the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs," the National News Agency said, referring to a densely populated area home to residential buildings and schools, after unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel earlier in the day.
Shortly before the strike, Israel's army issued an evacuation order to residents of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs. The military told them to leave the area around "Hezbollah facilities" immediately.
"Anyone located in the building marked in red as shown on the map, and the surrounding buildings... are near Hezbollah facilities... you must immediately evacuate these buildings", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map showing the building.
The order came as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun began talks in Paris on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss economic reforms and efforts to stabilise the country.
Macron said Friday's strikes on Beirut were "unacceptable" and a violation of the ceasefire after the meeting with Aoun.
Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, Macron said the renewed tensions “mark a turning point".
“Today’s strikes and the failure to respect the ceasefire are unilateral actions that betray a given promise and play into Hezbollah’s hands,” he said.
He said he will speak with US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the coming hours over the situation in Lebanon.
“I call on Lebanon’s friends to act quickly to stop the deterioration and help Lebanon implement international resolutions,” Aoun added.
Making his first trip to a Western nation, Aoun was seeking to shore up support from Paris after the new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, succeeded in putting together a government after two years of stalemate.
Under a ceasefire deal brokered by France and the United States in November, armed group Hezbollah was to remove its weapons from southern Lebanon, Israeli ground forces were to withdraw, and the Lebanese army was to deploy in the area. Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel have all accused each other of violating the accords.
Watch more US, France are 'guarantors of ceasefire deal', Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says
“It seems to us today that we have to move forward on the possibility of a complete respect of the ceasefire,” a French presidency official told reporters ahead of the visit, whose country, along with the US, is a guarantor of the accord.
The official said Paris was in contact with President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his deputy Morgan Ortagus on the issue.
Israel strikes Hadath neighbourhood
The Israeli military said on Friday it was striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, hours after missiles were fired from Lebanese territory into Israel.
Lebanese President Aoun in Paris on first Europe visit since election
03:38
France's President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun at the Élysée presidential Palace in Paris on March 28, 2025. © Ludovic Marin, AFP
In the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, residents were seen fleeing in panic, rushing to escape by car and on foot after Israel issued the evacuation order, witnesses said.
A limited drone strike, which security sources said appeared to be a warning shot or designed to mark the building intended to be hit, struck a building roughly an hour later.
Israel bombarded Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon on Friday after intercepting a rocket fired from its northern neighbour, the Israeli military said, although Hezbollah denied involvement in the incident.
Israel had vowed a strong response to protect its security, in what amounted to a further blow to the shaky ceasefire deal between the sides that ended the year-long war, a spillover of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
A senior Hezbollah official denied in a statement that the group was involved in Friday's rocket launch, which followed a rocket salvo into northern Israel on March 22 for which the Iranian-backed group also denied responsibility.
Hezbollah said the incidents appeared to be part of what it called attempts to create pretexts for the continuation of Israeli military action in Lebanon.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP and AP)
Macron urges Israel to 'put an end to strikes' on Gaza, Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "put an end to the strikes on Gaza and return to the ceasefire" in a phone call between the two leaders on Sunday. He also called on Israel to respect the truce in place with Hamas-ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Issued on: 31/03/2025
Macron's intervention comes at a time when Israel has resumed its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory following the collapse of a fragile truce with the Islamist group Hamas.
"I called on the Israeli prime minister to put an end to the strikes on Gaza and return to the ceasefire, which Hamas must accept. I underlined that humanitarian aid must be delivered again immediately," the French leader wrote on the X social network.
Israel resumed intense bombing of the Palestinian territory on 18 March and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas which the Palestinian militant group sparked with its 7 October, 2023 attac
On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis killed at least eight people, including five children, as the displaced Palestinians sheltering there were observing Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Fragile truce
Macron likewise "called on Israel to strictly respect the ceasefire" in Lebanon, a former French protectorate where Israel on Friday bombed the southern Beirut stronghold of Hamas's ally Hezbollah for the first time after four months of truce.
The Beirut strike came after rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Friday, testing the fragile agreement.
Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Israel's arch-rival Iran, has denied involvement.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "put an end to the strikes on Gaza and return to the ceasefire" in a phone call between the two leaders on Sunday. He also called on Israel to respect the truce in place with Hamas-ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Issued on: 31/03/2025
By: RFI
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip 31 March, 2025. © Hatem Khaled / Reuters
Macron's intervention comes at a time when Israel has resumed its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory following the collapse of a fragile truce with the Islamist group Hamas.
"I called on the Israeli prime minister to put an end to the strikes on Gaza and return to the ceasefire, which Hamas must accept. I underlined that humanitarian aid must be delivered again immediately," the French leader wrote on the X social network.
Israel resumed intense bombing of the Palestinian territory on 18 March and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas which the Palestinian militant group sparked with its 7 October, 2023 attac
On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis killed at least eight people, including five children, as the displaced Palestinians sheltering there were observing Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Fragile truce
Macron likewise "called on Israel to strictly respect the ceasefire" in Lebanon, a former French protectorate where Israel on Friday bombed the southern Beirut stronghold of Hamas's ally Hezbollah for the first time after four months of truce.
The Beirut strike came after rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Friday, testing the fragile agreement.
Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Israel's arch-rival Iran, has denied involvement.
Lebanese army soldiers inspect the site that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday 28 March, 2025. © Hussein Malla / AP
Netanyahu has insisted Israel will target anywhere in Lebanon it deems a threat, warning in a statement on Friday that "the equation has changed".
Macron had previously denounced the Beirut strikes, which Lebanon's health ministry reported had killed five people, as an "unacceptable" violation.
(with AFP)
Netanyahu has insisted Israel will target anywhere in Lebanon it deems a threat, warning in a statement on Friday that "the equation has changed".
Macron had previously denounced the Beirut strikes, which Lebanon's health ministry reported had killed five people, as an "unacceptable" violation.
(with AFP)
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