BEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the international community to intervene firmly to stop Israeli attacks on the country after a deadly strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday.

 

In a statement, Aoun said Lebanon "reiterates its call to the international community to assume its responsibility and intervene firmly and seriously to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people".

 

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 28 more.

 

In a statement, the ministry said that five people were killed and 28 wounded in the strike on an apartment building in the Lebanese capital, calling it a "final toll".

 

Israel said it carried out an air strike Sunday targeting Hizbollah's chief of staff in Beirut, hitting an apartment building in an operation which the Iran-backed group said crossed a red line.

 

The strike took place in the Haret Hreik area in Beirut's southern suburbs, a densely-populated area where Hezbollah holds sway.

 

Hizbollah confirmed a senior commander was targeted in the strike, while an Israeli government spokeswoman declined to give the name of the target at this stage.

 

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the strike hit the third and fourth floors of a nine-storey building.

 

Debris littered the road below, with a car damaged in the street. Dust could be seen rising from the block, with rescue workers inside the apartments searching for survivors.

 

Ambulances and fire crews scrambled to the scene and rescuers evacuated a wounded woman on a stretcher. A crowd gathered in the street and Lebanese soldiers were deployed to secure the site.

 

Lebanon's official National News Agency said three missiles were fired at the building.

 

'Maximum enforcement'

 

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had ordered the attack -- the latest against targets in Lebanon despite a year-long ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

 

"Israel is determined to act to achieve its objectives everywhere and at all times,” the premier's office said in a statement.

 

Separately, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said: "Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have his hand cut off," warning that Israel would "continue the policy of maximum enforcement".

 

Hizbollah official Mahmud Qomati told reporters Sunday's attack "crosses a new red line".

 

"The targeting was clearly aimed at a key... figure in the resistance, and the results are unknown," he added in front of the strike location, without disclosing the person's identity.

 

Israel has carried out regular strikes in Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hizbollah, saying it is striking members of the group or its infrastructure in the country's south and east.

 

Sunday's strike, however, was the first on Beirut's southern suburbs since June 5, when Israel said it hit a Hizbollah drone factory.