Israeli strike hits Hezbollah-aligned media building in Beirut’s southern suburbs following an evacuation warning

Clouds of smoke rose over Beirut’s southern suburbs as Israel escalated its bombardment of the Lebanese capital.

On Monday, the Israeli Navy conducted an intelligence-based strike in the area of Beirut and eliminated Reza Khuza'i , the head of Hezbollah's weapons build-up and the Chief of Staff of the Lebanon Corps in the Iranian Quds Force.

The militant group’s attacks, apparently at the behest of Iran, led to retaliation from Israel and were “practically a suicide mission” for Hezbollah, an analyst said.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US launched its offensive against Iran because it knew Israel was going to attack and “that would precipitate an attack against American forces”.

The Israel Defense Forces launched retaliatory strikes on Beirut early March 2 after Hezbollah said it fired rockets and drones at a military base near Haifa in northern Israel. Hezbollah said the attack was in response to the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and framed it as defending Lebanon against continued Israeli aggression,

Lebanon is seeing civilians fleeing their homes in the south as Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Hezbollah stepped into the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

The American University of Beirut has long been a haven for cats abandoned in times if war or crisis, but in recent years the feline population has grown dramatically.

The Israeli Air Force completed a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah military assets in Beirut a short while ago, the IDF announces. According to the IDF, the strikes hit weapon depots, command centers, and “satellite communications” equipment belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence division.