ISRAEL attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday and carried out air strikes on south Lebanon the day before that killed nine people, including three members of the Lebanese military, despite a ceasefire agreement reached in Washington last week.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office claimed that Sunday’s strikes were in retaliation for the Hezbollah resistance group firing towards northern Israel, saying that Israel’s attacks had targeted “command centres” in southern Beirut. There was no immediate word of casualties and Hezbollah did not immediately confirm that it had fired at Israel.

The Lebanese and Israeli governments renewed a ceasefire last week in ongoing talks that Beirut hopes will bring an end to the war.

Israel had already struck the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital twice since the first agreement between Lebanon and Israel took effect on April 17. Strikes on southern Lebanon continue daily and Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have also clashed.

Iran, which supports Hezbollah, had warned that an attack on the Lebanese capital would trigger renewed full-scale war across the Middle East.

The resistance movement has rejected the US-brokered deal and instead endorsed Iran’s demand that ending the war in Lebanon be part of the negotiations.

On Saturday, an air strike on a vehicle on a road linking the city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said. Another air strike on the village of Saksakiyah killed six people and wounded four, the state-run National News Agency reported.

President Joseph Aoun called the strike against his military a “flagrant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty and international law during an “ongoing escalation that threatens stability and security in the south.”

Lebanon’s army said the “continued, deliberate and repeated Israeli aggression” aims to thwart efforts to reach a solution “that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

The Israeli military said it had hit vehicle that it was “moving suspiciously” towards soldiers near Kfar Tibnit village, after the military received “concrete indications” that Hezbollah would direct fire towards Israeli soldiers from the same area.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized much of the south, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas.

Iran has demanded that any lasting truce must include Lebanon, but Mr Netanyahu is determined to defeat Hezbollah.