On Monday, June 8, 2026 at 01:23:29 AM GMT+5, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:
Iran Fires Waves of Missiles at Israel After Israeli Airstrike on Beirut
The attack threatens to escalate a conflict that has been largely contained since a ceasefire was agreed in early April
TEL AVIV—Iran fired at least four waves of missiles toward Israel on Sunday, after a deadly Israeli airstrike on Beirut hours earlier targeting the Tehran-backed militants Hezbollah, Israel’s military said.
The attack marks the first time Iran has targeted Israel since its ceasefire with the U.S. went into force in early April and threatens to escalate a conflict that has been largely contained since then, despite a series of lower-intensity skirmishes.
Israel intercepted the Iranian missiles, and there were no reported injuries. Iran warned it would respond with force against Israel and its allies should Israel retaliate.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, earlier posted a video featuring U.S. jet fighters with the message: “U.S. forces across the Middle East remain vigilant and ready.”
The Iranian attack came after Tehran threatened to strike Israel and American bases in the Middle East in response to the attack on the Lebanese capital, the first time Israel had targeted Beirut since a ceasefire on that front was announced by the U.S. last week. Israel had agreed not to hit Beirut as long as Hezbollah didn’t attack Israel proper, and agreed with Lebanon on a broader truce as long as the militant group stops fighting.
Iran’s state broadcaster quoted the Iranian armed forces as saying that Israel must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and the suburbs.
“If it expands its attacks on that region or responds to Iran’s actions, it will begin with devastating strikes against the regime and its supporters,” Iran’s armed forces said, according to Iran state media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strike on what he said was a Hezbollah headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the militant group. Earlier, Israel’s military said Hezbollah had fired rockets into northern Israel, which it intercepted.
Senior officials in Tehran, who have sought a halt to Israeli operations inside Lebanon as part of their peace negotiations with Washington, had vowed to hit back with a decisive and painful response.
On Sunday, Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, said the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and what he described as the U.S. green light for the Israeli strike in Lebanon “turn American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office and the White House didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether Israel’s latest strike on Beirut had Washington’s approval. Israel said last week the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon included an American understanding it could strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacked Israel.
Following the Iranian attack against it late Sunday, Israel announced the suspension of schools across the country, a sign it was anticipating that hostilities could continue. The Israel Airports Authority, however, said activity at the country’s main international airport continued as usual.
Israel’s military said its airstrikes in Beirut hit a command center in the Lebanese capital where the group was operating and which had been used to plan strikes against Israel. Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed two people and injured 20 more, including four women and four children.
Last week, President Trump held a tense call with Netanyahu and halted planned Israeli strikes in Beirut amid pressure from Tehran to end Israeli operations against the regime’s ally Hezbollah. Netanyahu agreed but said any more direct attacks on Israeli territory by Hezbollah would be met with attacks on Beirut.
Afterward, the U.S. State Department announced the Israeli and Lebanese governments had agreed to a ceasefire after weeks of negotiations that would end the fighting as long as Hezbollah stopped attacks and pulled out of an area near the border with Israel. The deal called for Lebanon’s army to take control of small parts of the area in a pilot project for taking it over.
Hezbollah and Iran swiftly rejected the deal, saying they would accept no halting of fighting until Israel had fully left Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah have since continued to exchange fire.
The Iranian attack and airstrikes in Beirut followed another exchange of fire over the weekend between U.S. and Iranian forces, the latest in a series of skirmishes that has kept tensions high in the strait.
The U.S. military said Saturday it shot down four Iranian attack drones that had been launched toward the strategic waterway, which Iran has effectively blocked since early in the war and which the U.S. has made sporadic efforts to pry open.
The military said it also struck what it called surveillance and radar sites along Iran’s coast to diminish Tehran’s ability to launch further attacks.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is responsible for defending the regime and is enforcing the chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, said the confrontation began when it opened fire to stop four oil tankers from transiting the waterway without its permission.
Salon mailing list
Salon@listserve.com
https://mlm2.listserve.net/mailman/listinfo/salon