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The guns were supposed to have fallen silent. Just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire had been agreed to halt the war in the Middle East, Israeli jets conducted a 10-minute blitz across Lebanon — a massive aerial attack that killed at least 203 people and wounded more than 1,000 others, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Other reports from Lebanese authorities put the toll higher, at 357 dead and 1,223 injured.

The attack, which Israel said was aimed at Hezbollah targets, hit densely populated residential areas including central Beirut, catching the country by surprise. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun described it as a "massacre," and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said civilians were targeted — the casualties were "martyrs and wounded." Lebanon observed a day of national mourning.

Coverage comparison

The attack came just as the region was exhaling after Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Iran, the US and their allies had agreed to an immediate ceasefire "everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere." But Netanyahu's office immediately said the ceasefire "does not include Lebanon," and Trump, after initially remaining silent, later called Lebanon "a separate skirmish."

The divergent accounts have thrown the truce into question. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told the BBC that Lebanon was covered by the two-week deal agreed on Tuesday, and called the strikes "a grave violation." US Vice President JD Vance said Iran's understanding of Lebanon's inclusion was a "misunderstanding."

While local and Western condemnation was swift, no criticism came from the US. Michael Wahid Hanna of the International Crisis Group told ABC Australia that Israel was "flying American planes and dropping American bombs," and said the "diplomatic arm of the United States is withered."

Key claims

  • The attack itself: Israeli jets struck over 100 targets in 10 minutes, according to the IDF, which said it had "completed the largest co-ordinated strike across Lebanon since the start of Operation Roaring Lion." The operation was also labelled "Operation Eternal Darkness" in some reports. Densely populated parts of central Beirut were hit, and a 10-storey residential building in Tallet el Khayat was destroyed without warning. Civil defence team leader Ziad Samir Itani said this was "new to Beirut" and teams were exhausted.
  • Who was killed: The IDF said it killed "70+ terrorists," including Ali Yusuf Harshi, the personal secretary to Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem. The BBC said it was unable to verify this claim. Some reports, including from The Guardian, suggested Harshi — Qassem's nephew — may have been killed in an attempt to assassinate Qassem himself, but this remains speculative.
  • The ceasefire dispute: Iran and Pakistan asserted the ceasefire included Lebanon; Israel and the US said it did not. Iran's initial 10-point proposal, which reportedly called for an end to the war against "all components of the 'axis of resistance'," included demands for Israel to halt strikes on Hezbollah. A senior US official said Iran's plan was not the same set of conditions the White House had agreed to.
  • Hezbollah's response: Hezbollah said it had been "notified of a ceasefire" and had been "committed to it since this morning," according to Lebanese political sources. Its only immediate response appeared to be rockets fired towards Israel hours later. Hezbollah later said it had fired at Israel overnight in response to "ceasefire violations."
  • Iran's threats: Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the "workable basis on which to negotiate" had already been violated, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would "fulfil our duty and deliver a response" if Israel did not cease its strikes. Iran also halted oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which it had reopened as part of the ceasefire agreement, though the White House disputed reports of a closure.

Perspectives

US/Israel: The Trump administration and Israeli officials maintain that Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire, which they say was specifically an agreement with Iran. Trump said Lebanon was not included "because of Hezbollah." Netanyahu has insisted there would be no situation in which a ceasefire with Iran would carry over into Lebanon. Israeli officials believe they have at least two weeks to continue operations, according to some reports.

Iran: Tehran calls the strikes a "grave violation" and says Lebanon was explicitly included in the deal. Khatibzadeh said the US must choose "between war and ceasefire." Iran warned it could withdraw from the ceasefire entirely if the attacks continue.

International community: The UN rights chief Volker Türk condemned the scale of the attacks as "horrific." Australia, along with Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Sierra Leone and the UK, issued a statement expressing deep concern about the humanitarian situation and calling for the ceasefire to apply to Lebanon. Australia's foreign minister, Penny Wong, said if fighting continued in Lebanon, "it risks the whole ceasefire across the region."

Lebanon: Lebanese officials from across the political spectrum, including opponents and supporters of Hezbollah, have come together in anger. More than a million people have been displaced, and the overall death toll since the start of March has risen above 1,900, with more than 6,300 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Peacekeepers have reported Israel violated the 2024 ceasefire thousands of times, and a UN expert group says Israel continues to strike Lebanese territory almost daily.

Context and outlook

Previous reporting has noted that the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, asked Israel "as a favour" to "spare the Christian villages," raising questions about the targeting of civilian areas. The New York Times reported that Israeli military officials were privately urging Christian and Druze communities to expel Shiite residents sheltering among them, a claim that has not been independently verified.

The two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US entered its second day on Thursday, with peace talks due to start this weekend in Pakistan, with Vance leading the US delegation. Iran has said the talks will not progress unless Lebanon is covered by the ceasefire. The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel was informed of the deal only at the last minute and "wasn't happy," which analysts say may explain the timing of the strikes.

Marion Messmer of Chatham House said the crisis points to Washington's difficulty managing its relationship with Israel. The Soufan Center think tank suggested the strikes could be seen as an effort to drive a wedge between Iran and its proxies. Meanwhile, the IDF's own assessment, according to Israeli officials, is that disarming Hezbollah by force is unrealistic — a fact that raises questions about the endgame of a campaign that has already cost so many lives.