Beirut Reels Under Unprecedented Israeli Barrage as Ceasefire Confusion Deepens

BEIRUT — The thunder of explosions tore through a relative lull in central Beirut on Tuesday, shattering store windows and sending pedestrians scrambling for cover. For Em Walid, a shop owner in the bustling commercial district, the sudden onslaught was marked by a surreal detail: "Even the street cats outside started running," she told Al Jazeera, her voice trembling.

The coordinated Israeli strikes, described as the most severe in years, struck targets from the southern suburbs to the eastern Bekaa Valley and the heart of the capital itself. Lebanese health officials report at least 254 killed and over 1,160 wounded, with fears the toll will climb as rescue teams sift through rubble. The attacks represent a sharp escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which has raged alongside the wider US-Israel war with Iran.

The bombardment landed amid profound ambiguity over Lebanon's status in a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire between the United States and Iran that took effect hours earlier. While Iran and Pakistan asserted the truce covered Lebanon, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a starkly different view. "Lebanon is a separate skirmish," Trump told Fox News, a stance echoed by Netanyahu who insisted the ceasefire "does not include Lebanon."

"Netanyahu is exploiting this fluid diplomatic moment to maximize operational gains against Hezbollah," said Dania Arayssi, a senior analyst at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. "The risk for Israel is that a solidified US-Iran deal could eventually necessitate a halt to fighting Iranian proxies, which would severely constrain its campaign in Lebanon."

Israel renewed large-scale operations in Lebanon in early March after Hezbollah launched a rocket salvo, breaking a tenuous calm in place since late 2024. Hezbollah framed that attack as retaliation for the US-Israeli assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader. Since then, relentless Israeli air and ground operations have killed approximately 1,700 people and displaced over 1.2 million.

Tuesday's strikes displayed a brutal intensity. The first wave saw dozens of hits in under ten minutes, targeting what the Israeli military claimed were over 100 Hezbollah sites. Many, however, devastated densely populated residential neighborhoods, with no prior warning issued. The scale overwhelmed hospitals, which issued urgent appeals for blood donors.

At the American University of Beirut Medical Center, a 20-year-old philosophy student, who asked not to be named, waited to donate. His family had already fled their home in southern Beirut's Dahiyeh district in March. "I heard several explosions... there were just way too many of them," he said, describing plumes of smoke rising across the cityscape. An attack near his aunt's home in Aley killed a neighbor.

In the seafront Manara district, restaurateur Najib Merhe surveyed the damage to his popular burger joint, Hani's. An Israeli missile had obliterated an apartment several floors above, blowing out his restaurant's glass facade. "People are afraid," Merhe said, lighting a cigarette amidst the debris. "This kind of situation no one can afford nor endure."

As civil defence workers cleared streets of shattered glass and cordoned off unstable buildings, a weary first responder, soaked in sweat, summarized the day's terror: "I heard 'woooooo' and then strikes all over the place. Never seen anything like this."

With Netanyahu vowing in televised remarks to continue military operations, a deep sense of dread settled over Beirut, a city once again confronting its vulnerability to regional conflicts far beyond its control.

Voices from the Readers

Karim Al-Fadel, Historian, Beirut: "This is a tragic but predictable chapter. The ambiguity of the ceasefire terms was an open invitation for escalation. Lebanon remains a pawn, its sovereignty ignored by all sides in this proxy war."

Layla Harb, NGO Worker, Tripoli: "My heart breaks for the families. The images from the hospitals are unbearable. Where is the international community? This is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in real time."

David Chen, Security Analyst, London: "Israel's calculus is clear: degrade Hezbollah's capabilities before any wider truce solidifies. The timing, immediately post US-Iran ceasefire, is strategically opportunistic, not coincidental."

Sarah Jenkins, Former Diplomat, Washington D.C.: "This is a reckless and morally bankrupt policy. To argue a ceasefire doesn't apply while bombing a nation into rubble is Orwellian. The U.S. complicity, through its unwavering support and arms, is a stain on our conscience."