Israel's Military Says the Target Was a Drone Storage Facility Belonging to Hezbollah

Israel's air force conducted a large strike on a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on March 28, a Reuters reporter said, the first heavy bombardment there since a truce deal in November ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

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Israel's military said it hit a drone storage facility in the area belonging to Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

The strike, which was heard across Beirut and produced a large column of black smoke, followed an evacuation order by the Israeli military for the neighborhood and three smaller targeted drone strikes on the building intended as warning shots, security sources told Reuters.

The evacuation order sent residents of the area into a panic, rushing to escape on foot as traffic clogged the streets out of the area, Reuters reporters in the area said.

Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, were pounded in 2024 by Israeli strikes that killed many of the group's top leaders, including its powerful chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a September air attack.

A US-brokered truce in November put an end to the fighting and mandated that southern Lebanon be free of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, that Lebanese troops deploy to the area, and that Israeli ground troops withdraw from the zone.