Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah command center in Beirut’s southern suburbs Sunday after the militant group launched unarmed drones across the border, killing at least three people and wounding 15, according to Lebanese state media. The attack drew an unusually sharp public rebuke from President Donald Trump and prompted threats from Iran to walk out of nuclear talks with the United States that Trump had described as close to completion.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center the group used to “advance terrorist attacks against the citizens of the state of Israel and IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.” The strike hit the Dahiyeh neighborhood, a densely populated area south of central Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway. Lebanese security sources told NBC News that Israel fired two missiles in a targeted strike.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement confirming they ordered the strike. “Israel will not tolerate fire into its territory,” they said.
The attack came hours after the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of violating a cease-fire agreement by firing toward Israel. Hezbollah launched drones that landed in open areas of Israeli territory, according to the Israeli military, and no injuries were reported as a result of the drone attack.
Trump said the Israeli response was disproportionate to the provocation. “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran,” Trump said in a social media post. “Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process.”
The preliminary deal — which Trump and Pakistan, acting as a mediator, had said was due to be signed Sunday — has been expected to open the Strait of Hormuz and lift an American blockade on Iran in a memorandum of understanding, according to The Wall Street Journal. Iran’s Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the military, reported Sunday afternoon that Tehran had not finalized the agreement and that it could still take several days to complete. A delegation from Qatar, one of the mediating countries, traveled to Tehran on Sunday in an effort to complete the pact, according to a Middle Eastern official and the Fars news agency.
Iran’s speaker of parliament and chief negotiator with the United States, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Israeli strike showed Washington could not be trusted. “The game of bad cop and good cop is outdated,” he said in a post on X. “If you lack the will and ability to fulfill your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible.”
A senior Iranian commander, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy head of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters that oversees all military forces in the country, said the Israeli strike “will not be left unanswered.” The Israeli military said on Sunday that it was preparing for potential retaliatory strikes aimed at Israel.
Sunday’s escalation follows a pattern of tit-for-tat violence that has repeatedly derailed diplomatic efforts to end the broader conflict. Earlier this month, Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut led Iran to fire missiles at Israel for the first time since a cease-fire was struck in April. Trump had announced a new cease-fire in Lebanon last week.
Similar Israeli strikes have led to tense calls between Trump and Netanyahu in recent weeks. Netanyahu’s opponents and allies have criticized him for what they described as a weak deal with Iran and over the perception that the U.S. is limiting how much force Israel can use in Lebanon. Before Sunday’s strikes, Bezalel Smotrich, Netanyahu’s finance minister, had called on the leader to strike in Beirut.
Netanyahu is facing elections in the fall, and recent polls show he would fail to secure a ruling majority, according to people familiar with the matter cited by The Wall Street Journal. Netanyahu opposes a deal with Iran and has pushed for a return to fighting, according to people familiar with the matter. Israeli officials are concerned the preliminary deal would leave discussions about Iran’s nuclear program for later and could give Tehran access to badly needed funding without preventing it from financing the militant groups it supports throughout the region, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The fighting Sunday could complicate efforts by mediators to keep Iran’s negotiators at the table. Mediators are worried that the Israeli strike will fuel opposition to a deal from Iranian hard-liners and put pressure on Iranian negotiators, a Middle Eastern official told the Journal.
As covered in recent weeks, a similar cycle of Israeli strikes on Beirut and Iranian retaliatory missile fire prompted an earlier round of escalation that U.S.-led diplomacy had only temporarily quieted. Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, faced street protests and public criticism Saturday from hard-liners who accused him of giving too many concessions to the U.S.