![\"Firefighters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775685915_775_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAMMAN, Jordan\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Even as a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to hold on Wednesday, Israel insisted it would continue operations against Hezbollah, while its warplanes carried out the largest wave of strikes across Lebanon since the current round of hostilities began with the Lebanese Shiite militant group.<\/p>\n
In response to the Israeli attacks, Iran once again sealed the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that is central to the ceasefire agreement, Iranian state media reported.<\/p>\n
In Israel, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday issued a statement welcoming the 14-day suspension of hostilities with Iran. But he added the deal did not include Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Israel has been locked in an all-out war with Hezbollah since March 2, after the group launched missiles on northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, its longtime supporter, and as vengeance for more than 10,000 violations of a ceasefire brokered in November 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire following an Israeli strike on the Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood of Beirut on April 8. <\/p>\n
(IBRAHIM AMRO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s statement contradicted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who said the ceasefire would extend to Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Just hours after Netanyahu\u2019s statement, an armada of 50 Israeli fighter jets dropped some 160 bombs on 100 targets within 10 minutes, according to the Israeli military, striking Hezbollah-dominated areas in Lebanon\u2019s south, east and near the capital. Some Beirut neighborhoods where Hezbollah has not had a presence, were also hit.<\/p>\n
The barrage, which took place shortly before 3 p.m. during rush hour traffic, sparked widespread panic, while motorists and pedestrians tried to escape the debris.<\/p>\n
In a measure of the pandemonium triggered by the strikes, the Lebanese Red Cross said it mobilized 100 ambulances to ferry casualties, while hospitals called for blood donations and urged all doctors to head to health centers to treat the wounded. <\/p>\n
Lebanese health authorities said that a preliminary toll counted 112 dead and more than 830 wounded. The Lebanese civil defense unit put the toll as significantly higher, with at least 250 people killed \u2014 92 in Beirut alone.<\/p>\n
Safa Bleik, a medical coordinator assistant with Doctors Without Borders said there was a \u201cmassive influx of casualties\u201d at Rafik Hariri Hospital, Lebanon\u2019s largest public hospital, after Israel\u2019s strikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in the ER, we are receiving huge waves of wounded people, including children,\u201d Bleik said in an audio recording the medical charity shared on its social media account.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are arriving with shrapnel wounds and severe bleeding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Before Wednesday\u2019s attacks, Lebanese health authorities said more than 1,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s president, Joseph Aoun, excoriated Israel\u2019s lastest assault, saying it added to the country\u2019s \u201cdark record.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese barbaric acts of aggression \u2014 which recognize no right and respect no agreements or commitments \u2014 have repeatedly demonstrated an utter disregard for all international laws and norms,\u201d Aoun said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes targeted \u201chundreds of Hezbollah operatives\u2026 at headquarters across Lebanon, in the largest concentrated blow.\u201d He warned Hezbollah General Secretary Naim Qassem that \u201chis turn will come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, for its turn, condemned the attacks, adding in a statement that it had the \u201cnatural and legal right to resist occupation and respond to its attacks.\u201d But there were no reports of missile launches from Lebanon to Israel. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s move puts further pressure on a fragile truce already burdened by a lack of clarity regarding its terms, execution and endpoint.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah entered the war in support of Tehran with the aim of linking its fate to any ceasefire deal brokered with its powerful benefactor. But Israeli officials say they will continue hitting Hezbollah until they can secure northern Israel from further attack.<\/p>\n
In a phone interview with PBS News Hour\u2019s Liz Landers, President Trump said the conflict between Israel and Lebanon was a \u201cseparate skirmish\u201d from the war with Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, they [Lebanon] were not included in the deal,\u201d he said. Asked why, he said it was \u201cbecause of Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not included in the deal. That\u2019ll get taken care of too. It\u2019s all right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Iran said otherwise, with the country\u2019s foreign ministry issuing a statement warning of \u201cdire consequences\u201d for Israel\u2019s \u201ccriminal acts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cessation of hostilities in Lebanon is an integral part of the agreement with the United States,\u201d the statement said, \u201cand the crimes of the Zionist entity constitute a flagrant violation thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s campaign in Lebanon has triggered an exodus from the country\u2019s south and other Hezbollah-dominated areas, forcing some 1.3 million \u2014 most of them Shiites \u2014 to flee. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened the Lebanese that anyone harboring Shiite displaced or allowing Hezbollah to operate in their areas would see their areas bombed.<\/p>\n
That has put pressure on Lebanon\u2019s delicate sectarian balance, with some communities expelling the displaced Shiites or not allowing them to come in the first place for fear of being targeted by Israel. <\/p>\n
Israeli officials further compounded those fears on Wednesday, with Avichay Adraee, Israel\u2019s Arabic-language spokesman, accusing Hezbollah of moving beyond its traditional bastions of support in the southern suburbs of the capital and embedding itself in northern Beirut and mixed neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the people of Lebanon: Do not be mistaken \u2014 the destruction that Hezbollah brought to the suburbs will move with it,\u201d he said, adding the group was spreading \u201cdestruction across Lebanon at your expense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not allow this; do not allow Hezbollah to bring devastation to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMMAN, Jordan\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Even as a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to hold on Wednesday, Israel insisted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[22683,84,3065,10369,100,1906,34,37,93,2928,876,396,695,680,2863],"class_list":{"0":"post-58552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-all-out-war","9":"tag-attack","10":"tag-ceasefire","11":"tag-ceasefire-agreement","12":"tag-hezbollah","13":"tag-hostility","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-lebanon","17":"tag-missile","18":"tag-netanyahu","19":"tag-people","20":"tag-statement","21":"tag-strike","22":"tag-wednesday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116371359308969199","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}