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Israel Kills 31 in Lebanon, Vows to Expand Strikes after Hezbollah Fire

Cars sit in traffic as residents flee Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Cars sit in traffic as residents flee Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Israel Kills 31 in Lebanon, Vows to Expand Strikes after Hezbollah Fire

Cars sit in traffic as residents flee Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Cars sit in traffic as residents flee Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 31 people on Monday, authorities said, following rocket fire from Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah after the killing of Iran's supreme leader. 

Israel's military vowed to intensify its attacks on the country and make Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" after launching several strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and south Lebanon, areas where Hezbollah holds sway. 

The escalation came as Lebanese authorities, who have been trying to spare the country from any repercussions of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, said Hezbollah's rocket fire gave Israel "excuses" to ramp up its attacks. 

Hezbollah's attack on Israel overnight was the first time the Lebanese movement claimed responsibility for an operation against Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two. 

The group announced around 3 am (0100 GMT) on Monday that it had targeted an Israeli army site south of Haifa city "with a barrage of high-quality missiles and a swarm of drones". 

It said the move was "retaliation for the pure blood" of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, blaming his death on Israel after it launched attacks in a joint operation with the United States on Saturday. 

"Hezbollah chose the Iranian regime over the State of Lebanon and initiated an attack on our civilians... they will pay a heavy price," said Rafi Milo, head of the Israeli military's Northern Command. 

"The strikes continue, their intensity will increase," he was quoted as saying in a military statement hours after the first strikes were fired. 

Lebanon's health ministry gave an "initial toll" of 31 killed in Israel's strikes, 20 in Beirut's southern suburbs and 11 in the south. It said at least 149 were wounded. 

In the capital's southern suburbs, strikes hit the top two floors of at least two buildings, according to an AFP photographer. 

A fire broke out in one of the targeted apartments. 

The bombings triggered a mass exodus from the area, according to AFP correspondents, with families hastily leaving their homes on motorcycles or in cars. 

Further south on the Mediterranean coast, an AFP journalist in Sidon saw huge lines of cars packed with families escaping the attacks. 

Israel's strikes hit several areas of the south including Kfur, Haris and Sultaniya. 

- Retaliation - 

Israel has carried out regular strikes on Lebanon since the 2024 ceasefire came into effect, usually saying it targets the militant group and accusing it of truce violations. 

Hezbollah has been weakened from conflict with Israel, which it entered to support Hamas following the Palestinian militant group's deadly attack on Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. 

On Monday, a military statement said Israeli forces "precisely struck" senior Hezbollah members in the Beirut area, and another in the south. 

Israel then issued an evacuation warning to residents of about 50 towns and villages in Lebanon's south and east -- both Hezbollah strongholds. 

"For your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and move at least 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) away from your village to open areas," army spokeswoman Ella Waweya said in a statement on X. 

Around three hours before Hezbollah's statement, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Telegram channel said that "Hezbollah officially entered the war". 

The Israeli military said that "several projectiles" fired from Lebanon on Monday "fell in open areas", with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. 

- 'Irresponsible' - 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said attacks from the country's territory risked drawing the country into regional conflict. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whose government has pushed for Hezbollah's disarmament, called Monday's rocket fire "irresponsible". 

He vowed to "stop the perpetrators and protect the Lebanese people". 

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said, according to a statement, that "Hezbollah opened a campaign against Israel overnight, and is fully responsible for any escalation". 

Lebanese authorities had repeatedly said they do not wish to involve their country in the outbreak of conflict in the region, which started after a massive US-Israeli attack on Iran.  

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Arab World

Iraq’s Maliki Joins Chorus Rejecting Militia Disarmament

Members of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah carry the group’s flag in central Baghdad. (File photo - AFP)
Members of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah carry the group’s flag in central Baghdad. (File photo - AFP)
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Iraq’s Maliki Joins Chorus Rejecting Militia Disarmament

Members of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah carry the group’s flag in central Baghdad. (File photo - AFP)
Members of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah carry the group’s flag in central Baghdad. (File photo - AFP)

State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki has joined a growing chorus of critics of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government program, unanimously approved by parliament, to restrict arms to state control.

Less than a month after the State Administration Coalition, comprising leading Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish forces, gave Zaidi full authority to determine how to handle the issue after Sept. 30 — when the remaining US troops are due to leave Iraq — armed factions, notably Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, rejected the deadline. They argue that their weapons are “ideological” and tied to the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance.”

Maliki joined them Wednesday, declaring in televised remarks that “there will be no handover of weapons” after Sept. 30.

Instead, he advocated “regulation and containment” of weapons through a mechanism still under discussion.

Maliki pointed that distinctions could be drawn among heavy, medium and light arms.

His position came despite an earlier warning from the State Administration Coalition that any armed activity outside state authority after Sept. 30 would be dealt with under the counterterrorism law.

Shifting Terms

A visit to Iraq by Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf further complicated the process amid indications that Tehran was unwilling to see all factions surrender their weapons.

The government subsequently agreed to a Shiite Coordination Framework committee that would begin talks with armed groups after the end of September to persuade them to establish a mechanism for “regulating weapons, not disarming them,” as Maliki put it.

Maliki serves on the three-member committee alongside former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri.

While Sudani has made no statement on surrendering weapons, Amiri and Maliki have taken turns, using terms such as “regulating,” “freezing” or “deferring” weapons rather than “disarmament.”

Maliki’s comments followed Amiri’s description two days earlier of the 2019 Tishreen protests as a “sedition” intended to topple the Shiite political system.

Amiri also identified the “resistance” as the so-called “third party” that carried out killings of protesters, leaving thousands dead or wounded, mostly from poor Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and central and southern provinces.

Political observers viewed his remarks as a deliberate message that armed factions “were, and remain, the ones protecting the political system when it is threatened.”

Akram al-Kaabi, secretary-general of Harakat al-Nujaba, meanwhile said US President Donald Trump was “deluded” if he believed he could achieve a victory in Iraq after failing to do so in Iran.

The government has maintained that the deadline for surrendering weapons remains unchanged and coincides with the US withdrawal, saying armed groups could be compelled to comply once the American presence ends and there is no longer justification for carrying arms.

Saleh al-Arbawi, head of the Wa’i Movement, told Asharq Al-Awsat that any handover could be circumvented or merely symbolic, saying armed groups follow “a transnational ideology and leadership” and have received no order to relinquish their weapons.

The government, he said, faces either confrontation or potentially lengthy dialogue and compromise. He added that the wider the current conflict becomes, the more difficult restricting arms to state control will be.

Arab World

Syria Says Thwarted Escape Attempt of Man Linked to Assad-era General

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Says Thwarted Escape Attempt of Man Linked to Assad-era General

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian authorities on Thursday said they foiled an escape attempt by a man close to a general who served ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad and led a militia linked to Assad's cousin.

Security forces in the Damascus countryside said they "thwarted an escape attempt by Alaa Zahreddine, a key associate of the criminal Ghiath Dalla and former leader of the 'Shield of the Homeland Brigade' militia", accusing him of being "implicated in crimes against civilians".

"After his identity was confirmed during a stop at a security checkpoint, Zahreddine drew his weapon and shot himself, committing suicide to avoid capture. His companion in the vehicle was arrested."

Syrian authorities had previously said that the brigade was linked to Rami Makhlouf, cousin of former Syrian president Assad who was ousted in 2024.

The operation comes days after security forces said they killed an Assad-era army commander in a firefight while trying to arrest him in the Alawite-majority Syrian coast.

Authorities said both men were linked to Assad-era general Dalla.

Dalla, a former officer in the much-feared Fourth Brigade, had announced on social media last year the formation of a "military council for the liberation of Syria".

The announcement came shortly before deadly violence targeting the Alawite minority, to which Assad's family belongs, erupted on the Syrian coast in March 2025.

Authorities accused armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.

A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.

Arab World

DR Congo Latest to Promise Moving Israel Embassy to Jerusalem

Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, addresses the African Water Forum in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 16, 2026. (AFP file)
Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, addresses the African Water Forum in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 16, 2026. (AFP file)
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DR Congo Latest to Promise Moving Israel Embassy to Jerusalem

Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, addresses the African Water Forum in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 16, 2026. (AFP file)
Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, addresses the African Water Forum in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 16, 2026. (AFP file)

The Democratic Republic of Congo said Thursday it would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, joining a small group of countries including the United States in taking the symbolic step of backing Israeli sovereignty in the contested holy city.

After a visit by President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, the two countries in a statement said they would take steps for "the relocation of the embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem", without giving a timeline.

Tshisekedi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting spoke of their "shared commitment to strengthening diplomatic relations", the statement said.

Tshisekedi has spoken warmly about Israel for years, saying his support is driven by his Christian faith. He has also been eager for support from the United States, which has increasingly pressured Rwanda over armed rebel advances in DR Congo.

The announcement comes weeks after Colombia's new hard-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, also announced that he would move his country's embassy to Jerusalem, a sharp shift from his leftist predecessor who criticized Israel over its Gaza offensive.

The vast majority of countries, if they recognize Israel, keep their embassies in Tel Aviv on the grounds that the status of Jerusalem will be settled in a final resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

President Donald Trump shattered that consensus in 2018 during his first term by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, which is home to Israel's parliament, prime minister and most other major governmental institutions.

Since Trump's move, only a handful of small, US-aligned countries have followed suit -- Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.

Kosovo and Somaliland, which are not member-states of the United Nations, have also opened what they consider their embassies in Jerusalem.

Argentine President Javier Milei, another right-wing Latin American who is an outspoken supporter of Israel, has promised to move his country's embassy to Jerusalem.

The shift has not yet taken place, however, reportedly due to disagreement over an Israeli company's plans to drill in the British-ruled Falkland Islands, which Argentina claims and calls the Malvinas.

Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it, declaring Jerusalem, home to Judaism's holiest site, to be its eternal, undivided capital.