ISRAEL has launched its first attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.

Following today’s strike, Israel’s army said it had attacked a Hezbollah drone storage facility in the area of Dahiyeh, which it described as a key stronghold of the Shi’ite resistance movement.

Israel had issued a warning for the residential and commercial area to be evacuated. The target was near at least two schools.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that if there was no peace in his country’s northern communities, there would be no peace in Beirut either.

“I am sending a clear message from here to the Lebanese government: If you do not enforce the ceasefire agreement, we will enforce it,” he said.

Tel Aviv has accused Hezbollah of firing rockets into northern Israel, but the resistance group denied this and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January.

The deadline was later extended to February 18, but Israeli troops have remained in five locations in Lebanon that are close to communities in northern Israel. 

Meanwhile, Israel has carried out dozens of air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon.

Speaking from Paris, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the strike on a Beirut suburb was a continuation “of Israel’s violations of the agreement,” which was sponsored by France and the United States.

During a joint news conference with Mr Aoun, French President Emmanuel Macron said the air strike on Beirut was “unacceptable.”

Israel has also continued ittacks on the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

At least 22 people were killed in Gaza today, with dozens more injured, according to the coastal enclave’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israel’s actions in Gaza “bear the hallmarks” of atrocities.

“There is a callous disregard for human life and dignity. The acts of war that we see bear the hallmarks of atrocity crimes,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said in Geneva.

In the West Bank, the Israeli army used heavy gunfire and tear gas to force worshippers out of a mosque in the village of Burin. They also attacked the town of Deir Samet, west of Hebron.

Settlers stormed the Ras al-Ain area of the West Bank town of Qusra, south of Nablus, the Quds Press Agency reported.