Four killed in Israeli strike on Beirut: Security source

Four people were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Monday, a Lebanese security source said, the first strike on the city itself since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year.

An Israeli drone targeted an apartment belonging to two members of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, said the source.

"At least four people were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a flat belonging to Jamaa Islamiya in Beirut's inner city," according to the source.


The strike marks the first time Israel has carried out attacks within Beirut's city walls since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year.

Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport.

AFP journalists reported drones flying over the Lebanese capital throughout Sunday.

The Israeli army has also shelled the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold, on several occasions in recent days.

Formed in 1960, Jamaa Islamiya, like Hamas, traces its origins to the Muslim Brotherhood. It has been the target of several Israeli strikes since the escalation began on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon killed at least 105 people on Sunday, two days after an Israeli strike killed the group's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah launched low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, sparking the war in the Gaza Strip.

Nearly a year later, Israel announced a shift in its focus to battling Hezbollah on its northern front.