Smoke and debris rise after a building is hit by an Israeli airstrike in the area of Abbasiyeh, on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, on April 8, 2026. AFP
Hours after Washington and Tehran announced a two-week ceasefire, Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, hitting several parts of the capital and its southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported.
The attacks on Beirut followed earlier airstrikes on eastern and southern Lebanon, including Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa Valley and the southern cities of Tyre and Sidon, where Israeli strikes killed at least eight people and injured more than 20.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has acted as a mediator in the regional conflict, said the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States applied “everywhere, including Lebanon.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later claimed that Lebanon was not included.
Spain’s foreign minister said it was “unacceptable” that Israel continued its war on Lebanon after the United States and Iran agreed to a truce.
"All fronts must cease, and all fronts also means Lebanon. It is unacceptable that Israel's war, Israel's invasion of a sovereign country like Lebanon... continues," Jose Manuel Albares told public radio RNE.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed the US–Iran ceasefire as “good news” on X but said Spain would not “applaud those who set fire to the world because they show up with a bucket.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, welcoming the ceasefire, also said, “Our wish is to ensure that the ceasefire fully includes Lebanon.”
Speaking to national broadcaster ABC, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong rejected Israeli claims that the ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon, saying, “The world expects the ceasefire to apply to the region.”
Germany also called on Israel to limit its campaign in Lebanon to “self-defence.”
Meanwhile, Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah urged people displaced by Israel’s war not to return to their homes until an official announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon is made.
Israel’s attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 1,500 people and displaced over one million in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
On Wednesday, an AFP correspondent in southern Lebanon saw small numbers of people heading south, some in cars and others carrying their children on motorcycles. However, Lebanon’s army warned displaced people against returning south, saying they could be exposed to ongoing Israeli attacks.
“Today, we stand on the threshold of a great and historic victory,” Hezbollah said in a statement, urging residents not to return to targeted villages, towns, and areas in the south, the Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut until a final ceasefire is announced.
The group warned that “this treacherous and barbaric enemy, seeking to escape the reality of its defeat, may resort to acts of treachery to fabricate a hollow victory—one intended to project an achievement it failed to secure on the battlefield.”
Hezbollah has not claimed any operations against Israel since 1 am (Tuesday 1000 GMT).
Three Lebanese sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters that the group stopped firing on northern Israel and on Israeli forces in Lebanon in the early hours of Wednesday, as part of the US–Iran ceasefire announced earlier.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the two-week ceasefire, saying he hoped his country would be included in the regional truce.
Aoun said Beirut “continued efforts to ensure that the regional peace includes Lebanon in a stable and lasting manner,” according to a statement from the presidency.
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